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– The effect of the cold snap impacted oil prices.
The prices of American oil and natural gas jumped on Thursday, driven in particular by the prospect ofa cold snap in the United Statesand as operators returned to the market after New Year's Day. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, gained 1.73% to $75.93. Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate, for delivery in February, was granted 1.97% to $73.13.
“Oil and natural gas are on the rise as an Arctic cold snap is about to hit the United States”observed Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group in a note. Part of the United States will, in fact, be crossed by “cold waves from the Arctic” in the coming days, according to the American weather service, the NWS. On the oil side, “the fear is that this will have an impact on American production”commented to AFP Matt Smith, from Kpler.
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Production could be “virtually interrupted”
“A lot of the production is in Texas, (a state) which is not used to such cold conditions, so” production could be “almost interrupted”he added. These weather forecasts also benefited American natural gas, which gained 0.82%, to $3.66 per million British thermal units (BTU), the Anglo-Saxon benchmark on this market.
The effect of the cold snap on prices was partially offset by figures released Thursday by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), according to which commercial crude oil inventories contracted less than expected last week. During the week ended December 27, these reserves fell by 1.2 million barrels, while analysts were expecting a drop of 2.3 million, according to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency.
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Oil continues to rise in 2025
The report was poorly received by operators, “because the market has seen a sharp increase in stocks of gasoline and distilled products”a noté M. Smith. “So there is a bit of a hangover in terms of demand after the end-of-year holidays”he added.
Already up slightly during the end-of-year holiday period, black gold continues to rise in 2025 “in a context of increased demand for energy in UNITED STATES and new economic recovery measures expected in China”explains Susannah Streeter, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “As long as China does not give impetus to the Chinese consumer, it will not succeed in bringing its economy back to where it should be”however, Mr. Smith argued.
