Supply Tensions Drive Oil Prices Higher: Closing Price and Market Analysis

2023-08-25 19:42:23
Closing price: Oil prices advanced on Friday as supply tensions trumped fears over demand resilience for now, as the market accommodated Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech. barrel of Brent BRENT Brent or North Sea crude is a variation of crude oil serving as a benchmark in Europe, listed on the InterContinentalExchange (ICE), a stock exchange specializing in energy trading. It has become the first international standard for setting oil prices. from the North Sea, for October delivery, rose 1.34% to $84.48.

Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI WTI West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also known as Texas Light Sweet, is a variation of crude oil that serves as a standard in pricing crude oil and as a commodity for oil futures contracts with the Nymex (New York Mercantile Exchange). ), the stock exchange specializing in energy.), for same-month delivery, gained 0.98% to $79.83.

???????? Jerome Powell, the head of the US Federal Reserve “had a talk of two-sided faces, of which we can find both bullish and bearish elements for the market”, commented Phil Flynn, of Price Futures Group, interviewed by AFP.

The president of the institution indicated at the symposium of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that inflation remained “too high” keeping all his options on the table to curb it while remaining cautious about the impact that can have monetary tightening of the economy.

“There weren’t many surprises, but it didn’t raise concerns that the Fed might overdo it on rate hikes,” Flynn said.

According to him, the black gold market was first driven by “concerns about diesel supply”, given stoppages at refineries in Louisiana.

???????? More generally, “the market continues to be confronted with contradictory signals”, commented the analysts of Energi Danmark, with on the one hand the “weak economic signals, in particular from China, combined with higher interest rates, lowering expectations about the future of the global economy.

????️ On the other, “lower US stocks and reduced supply from major global producers are offsetting bearish signals,” they explain.

???? On the natural gas side, the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European reference, concluded at 35 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

Workers at the North West Shelf gas facility in Australia have reached an agreement with Woodside management, temporarily dissuading the prospect of an impending strike in Australia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.

“This of course led to a sharp decline in the gas market, where prices fell back to levels close to where they were before the strike rumors started earlier this month,” analysts said. from Energi Denmark.

The affected Australian gas facilities alone supply more than 10% of the world’s LNG (liquefied natural gas) supply each month.