After a march forward fueled by optimism about the global economic recovery and the disruption of production in Texas, oil prices paused on Thursday as markets wanted more indication of OPEC + intentions.
Read also: American oil: the essential restructuring after a terrible year
A barrel of Brent from the North Sea for April delivery fell 0.24% from Wednesday's close, ending at $ 66.88 in London.
The pullback was larger for WTI's US barrel for the same month, which lost 0.49% to $ 63.53 in New York.
However, the two contracts hesitated a lot during the session, alternating between rise and fall: at one point, they rose to reach levels more seen since January 8, at respectively 67.70 dollars and 63.73 dollars per barrel.
"After a strong start at the start of the week, crude prices are taking a break,"
said Robbie Fraser, at Schneider Electric, adding that investors' eyes were now on OPEC +, which is trying to determine whether it continues or not to curb exports of black gold.
"Saudi Arabia seems to want to end its unilateral decision to take 1 million barrels of oil a day off the market, but uncertainties remain about how the organization (Opep +) as such will go about doing it. to restore production to pre-pandemic levels
,
”
said Robbie Fraser.
"Everyone is now waiting" for
the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their OPEC + allies to be held next week, March 4, agrees Neil Wilson of Markets.com.
This high mass could lead, according to the expert, to a
"relaxation of supply constraints" to
which the cartel is constrained.
Ascending phase
Before Thursday's change of course, black gold prices were on the rise.
A push fueled by the deployment of vaccination campaigns and the upcoming variety of vaccines against Covid-19, information likely to accelerate the reopening of economies.
The cold wave that affected the American state of Texas in the United States, a large producer of hydrocarbons, also contributed to pulling up prices because it caused the paralysis of oil and electricity infrastructure.
