London (awp/afp) – Oil prices fell slightly on Friday, after the announcement of the postponement of the biannual OPEC+ meeting on Thursday, suggesting internal differences, and on the third day of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Around 10:45 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in January, which is the last day of trading, lost 0.66% to $72.80.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery the same month, fell 0.20% to $68.58.
The consensus among analysts is still in favor of maintaining additional voluntary cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, but the postponement of the meeting instilled the idea that “a shock decision” aimed at increasing production “in a price war to defend its global market share” was still possible, says Han Tan, analyst at Exinity.
Some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan, would like to develop new oil projects and are putting pressure to produce more.
The meeting of 22 OPEC+ ministers, initially scheduled online on Sunday, was postponed until next Thursday, officially “because several ministers are participating in the 45th Gulf summit” this weekend in Kuwait, OPEC said in a press release. . But according to analysts, it would above all be a question of gaining time for member countries to agree.
On the geopolitical level, the truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in force since Wednesday helped to bring down part of the risk premium which was driving up the price of black gold. However, “any developments in the Middle East could change this situation,” warn Energi Danmark analysts.
The Lebanese army on Thursday accused Israel, which carried out an airstrike against a Hezbollah installation in southern Lebanon, of having “repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement” which came into force the day before.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened the same day with an “intensive war” in the event of a violation of the truce with Hezbollah.
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