Oil prices jumped Thursday after a statement from US President Joe Biden saying he was “in discussions” with Israel on possible strikes against Iranian oil installations.
Posted at 6:47 a.m.
Updated at 11:01 a.m.
Around 2:50 p.m. GMT (4:50 p.m. in Paris) WTI (West Texas Intermediate) rose 4.34% to 73.12 dollars, while its European equivalent Brent from the North Sea rose 3.94% to 76 .81 dollars.
“The market remains worried about a possible Israeli response against Iran, which would cause supply problems,” explains Matt Britzman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The military escalation of recent days between Israel on the one hand, and Iran and Hezbollah on the other, has raised fears of an uncontrollable situation in the Middle East.
An Israeli strike on a Hezbollah relief center in Beirut left seven people dead before dawn on Thursday, the day after ground fighting in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah claims Thursday to have repulsed an Israeli attempt to advance on the border in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army says it is carrying out limited and localized operations.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, say they have carried out a drone attack in Israel.
Despite these tensions, oil prices remain contained and their rise must be put into perspective compared to Wednesday’s session during which Brent crossed $75 before falling again on the announcement of American stocks.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude stocks increased by 3.9 million barrels last week, compared to only 1.4 million expected by analysts.
Such stocks reassure markets about the economy’s ability to withstand a possible supply shock.
In addition, the Libyan oil minister said in an interview with Bloomberg that Libya was resuming oil production on Thursday.
The announcement, already awaited by markets after the resolution of a month-long political crisis in Libya, is expected to reintroduce hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day to the markets.
“There is no immediate threat to the availability of oil at the global level,” summarizes John Plassard, analyst at Mirabaud.
In addition, OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies) maintained its plan to increase production by an additional 2.2 million barrels starting in December at a meeting on Tuesday.
“OPEC+ still has unusually large spare capacity” and could therefore produce even more if needed, underlines Claudio Galimberti of Rystad Energy.
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