The price of Petroleum Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 3.2 percent this Friday and closed at 107.62 dollars after a rebound related to the shortage of supply in the energy market.
At the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for August delivery gained $3.35 from the previous close.
The benchmark crude became more expensive today, although not enough to offset the loss in value of the previous days, so the “black gold” cut 2.8 percent in the weekly accumulated.
According to analysts, operators have focused today on the scarce supply and the growing demand in the energy market, and have also been infected by the stock market rise on Wall Street.
Among other factors, the current market adjustment is influenced by the total interruption in Libya’s oil supply due to the political crisis in the country.
Sevens Report president Tom Essaye also noted in a note that Western sanctions on the Russian energy sector “continue to have a notable upward influence on prices.”
However, experts point out that the fear of a recession derived from increases in interest rates to control inflation and its possible impact on fuel demand has not gone away.
This week, the US government has not released data on commercial reserves of crude oil, gasoline and other products due to technical problems, and has not announced a date for its next report.
Meanwhile, the price of July natural gas futures contracts fell 2 cents to almost $6.22, and gasoline futures contracts due the same month rose 12 cents to $3.88 a gallon.
