NEW YORK. The price of Texas Intermediate Oil (WTI) rose 0.51% in Wednesday’s session, closing at 115.26 dollars a barrel.
This occurred after the announcement of a future partial embargo on Russian crude agreed by the European Union (EU) and the lifting of the confinement against covid-19 in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai.
At the end of operations on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the WTI futures contracts for delivery in July became more expensive 59 cents compared to the previous closing.
Shanghai has put an end to the strict confinement that it maintained for more than two months to stop a resurgence of covid-19 and the 25 million inhabitants of the eastern city are now recovering a certain normality, which could translate into an increase in the demand for gas.
At the same time, investors see potential supply problems after European leaders finally agreed on a new package of sanctions on Russia that includes a ban on 90% of Russian crude until the end of the year, although it excludes the oil that supplies Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic for the Druzhba pipeline.
Yesterday, the Kremlin warned that this embargo will affect the world energy market, although it assured that it is seeking to redirect the volumes of oil that will be affected to alternative markets.
On the other hand, the alliance formed by OPEC and a group of oil producing countries, especially Russia, will decide tomorrow whether to maintain their plan to increase their pumping drop by drop or if, finally, they give in to pressure from the West to open the taps and contribute thus reduce energy prices. In principle, everything indicates that the ministers of the 23 countries that make up what is known as OPEC + will maintain the strategy of increasing their exports by about 400,000 barrels a day each month.
