Washington (AWP/AFP) – Oil prices dropped on Monday, after the organization of oil exporting countries and its allies (OPEC+) of acceleration of its barrels on the market.
Saudi Arabia, alongside Russia and six other cartel members, will get out of the ground 411,000 barrels per day in June, as in May, according to a press release published on Saturday, while the initial reintroduction plan provided for an increase in only 137,000 barrels.
In anticipation of this decision, and faced with press information evoking Friday the possibility of this return of barrels from OPEC+, the operators were back in recent last week.
“There is always a little skepticism on the market until OPEC+ makes an announcement. Some could therefore think that before Reunion, it was only test balloons to see how the market would react,” said AFP Andy Lipow, from Lipow Oil Associates.
From now on, “the market believes that the supply is more than sufficient to meet demand, especially since the impact of customs duties has not yet been fully felt,” added the analyst.
The price of the barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in July, lost 1.73% to 60.23 dollars.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, for delivery in June, sold 1.99% to 57.13 dollars.
It now remains to be observed “how the impact of customs duties affects the American consumer as well as the manufacturing industry worldwide, and if this leads to an economic slowdown, which would further reduce the demand for oil”, underlines Andy Lipow.
OPEC+members, mostly very dependent on the oil windfall, played until recently on the rarefaction of the offer to boost prices, keeping in reserve millions of barrels.
“After the signal of last month”, the decision on Saturday “sends a clear message: the group changes its strategy and seeks to regain market share after years of cuts,” Jorge Leon, Rystad Energy, told AFP.
A turnaround which also allows “weaving good relations with the United States of Donald Trump”, according to the analyst.
AFP/Rp
