rose oil prices To reach its highest level in two months on Friday, as Brent crude is heading towards achieving the largest weekly jump in a month and a half, supported by the possibility of a European Union imposing a ban on Russian oil and the upcoming summer driving season in the United States.
Brent crude futures for July delivery rose $0.51, or 0.43%, to $117.91 a barrel by 9:00 GMT.
But the benchmark crude is heading for a gain of about 4% this week.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $0.11, or 0.0%, to $114.20 a barrel.
US crude is also heading towards achieving a weekly gain of 0.7%.
Both benchmark contracts are heading to end the week on a high as the European Commission continues to seek the support of all 27 member states of the bloc for the proposed new sanctions against Russia, as Hungary constitutes a stumbling block.
A senior aide in the Hungarian government said that his country needs between three and a half and four years to stop using Russian crude and pump huge investments to adjust its economy, and that it cannot support the oil embargo proposed by the European Union until an agreement is reached on all issues.
“The combination of the actual loss of supplies and the growing refusal to accept supplies from Russia will cause these two commodities (oil and gas) to rise significantly,” said Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACI Securities.
Prices have increased about 50% since the beginning of this year.
Six sources in “OPEC Plus” told Archyde.com that the group is expected to abide by the oil production agreement that it approved last year during its meeting scheduled for June 2, with an increase in production targets in July by 432,000 barrels per day, which represents a rejection of Western calls. for faster increases in production in order to curb higher prices.
The CEO of CMarkits London, Youssef Al-Shammari, said in an interview with Al-Arabiya channel, that oil prices from now until summer will be high, due to a shortage of supplies by about two million barrels of oil than the market needs, and that stocks are shrinking, especially in the United States.
He expected that prices would calm down after the summer period, because there might be an adjustment to the basis of production lines from the OPEC Plus alliance, especially from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“With the return of demand from China, demand will rise, and there is great pressure on refineries, and an urgent need to increase the capacity of banks in Europe and America,” according to Al-Shammari.
Commenting on Britain’s decision to raise the tax on energy companies, Al-Shammari said that the idea of enacting a different tax on energy companies is that European governments are trying to compensate for the crisis that the continent is going through, in order to obtain funds that help consumers.
“At present it is considered a realistic decision, so that they can support consumers,” he said.