Around 11:40 a.m., Brent took 0.15% to 93.59 dollars. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate gained 0.17% to 87.91 dollars.
Oil prices were up slightly on Thursday, the day after OPEC + decided to drastically reduce its production target to end a downward trend in prices, in the face of growing fears of recession.
Around 09:40 GMT (11:40 CET), a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in December took 0.15% to 93.59 dollars.
A barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery gained 0.17% to 87.91 dollars.
The thirteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, and their ten partners led by Russia (OPEC+) have agreed to a drop of “two million” barrels per day for the month of November.
This drastic cut is the largest since the spring of 2020, when the group chose to leave nearly 10 million barrels underground so as not to flood a market unable to absorb them in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rumors about a drastic cut in the group’s production target had already been priced in for several days, pushing prices higher, analysts said. On Thursday, the two crude benchmarks thus remained stable.
“The feeling that OPEC +, of which Russia is an integral part, will reduce its production to raise prices is a slap in the face for the Biden administration”, asserts Stephen Innes, analyst at Spi, interviewed by AFP.
“It is clear that with its decision today, OPEC+ is aligning itself with Russia,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday.
“Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia will not be repaired anytime soon,” said analyst Edward Moya of Oanda, especially since the OPEC+ decision could push Joe Biden “to consider extend the use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves”.
However, Saudi Energy Minister Abdel Aziz bin Salman specified during the press conference following the alliance meeting that the real drop in the group’s production would be around 1 to 1.1 million barrels per day, due to the system of quotas distributed to the various member countries, and given the fact that the alliance almost systematically fails to meet its set objectives.