Earnings of almost 1% for crude after reports of an attack on an Aramco oil plant

LAST UPDATE: 19:33

Oil prices rose on Friday afternoon, fueling reports of an attack on an oil giant at the Aramco energy giant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the two contracts on track for their first three-week uptrend. last.

In particular, the European Brent sees the May contract strengthen by 0.87% and pass again the $ 120 a barrel currently moving in $ 120.06while the American WTI May “writes gains of almost 1% and moves to 113.42 dollars the barrel.

On a weekly basis, however, after three consecutive five-day falls in which prices even entered a bear market area last Friday, this year they took the rise again and Brent is moving towards completion with a jump 10%as well as the WTI leading to + 7%.

Prior to the reports of the attack on the storage facilities of the oil giant Aramco, the prices of crude oil were stabilizing as the countries of the European Union do not seem to agree on the imposition of sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, a development that has allayed fears of further unrest in energy supply.

Concerns that helped alleviate the EU-US agreement to supply Europe with more liquefied natural gas (LNG) this year and next.

However, the stagnation in Russia-Ukraine negotiations removes the possibility of a political compromise on a ceasefire, and as fighting continues unabated, concerns about a reduction in supply due to sanctions in Moscow, the world’s second-largest exporter of crude oil remain. .

As SPI Asset Management’s Steven Ines points out, “it’s difficult to take a short position in oil as stocks continue to decline and we are sure we will have more supply shocks in the future.”

Characteristic of the strong volatility of the oil market is that the Intercontinental Exchange increased the margin calls for Brent to 19% for the May contract, to the third rise for this year, making crude more expensive in trading.

It is recalled that margin calls increase when markets are volatile, requiring investors to deposit more money as a guarantee that they will meet their obligations.

For its part, the US discussed with its allies a possible coordinated further release of security supplies, as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced on Thursday.