(New York) Oil prices recorded their seventh consecutive session of increases on Friday, driven by news of a resurgence in Chinese demand, and are now flirting with important symbolic thresholds.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, rose 1.48%, to close at 85.28 dollars.
The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in February, took him 1.87%, to 79.86 dollars. The WTI came close to 80 dollars in session, a psychological threshold that it has not crossed for 10 days.
Until recently “many brokers had doubts about the reopening of the Chinese economy, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases. But it looks like we’ve restarted,” said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group.
“And we are seeing more and more signals that show that China is trying to secure its energy supplies and that we have reached a plateau,” he added.
According to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency with consultants specializing in the Chinese market, the daily demand for oil in China could reach 16 million barrels per day this year, which would be a record.
In addition, “operators are also beginning to integrate a slightly more robust demand in Europe, not just in China,” noted Edward Moya of Oanda in a note.
In addition, the temperature should drop significantly in the coming days in several European countries, after a long period of abnormal mildness for the season, which could revive the energy needs of the Old Continent.
In addition, the rise in power of the scenario of a soft landing for the American economy this year and an imminent halt to the rise in interest rates have restored vigor to commodities in general, in particular to black gold. .
After having worried for a long time, the US domestic market is also showing signs of firmness.
The average price of gasoline at the pump resumed its rise after months of contraction and on Friday the wholesale price of gasoline in the United States rose to its highest level in two months.
A growing number of analysts and operators are predicting that Brent will exceed 100 dollars a barrel by the end of the year. Until now, however, they were generally more reluctant to see prices go much further than their current level in the short term.
“We are gaining momentum”, believes, for his part, Phil Flynn, for whom prices are “on a good trajectory”, ready to go higher in the days to come.
WTI and Brent have not crossed the thresholds of 85 and 90 dollars respectively for almost two months.
