The texas intermediate oil price (WTI) Hill this Thursday with a decrease of 2.6% and stood at $107.67 a barrel, hitting the brakes after several days of increases resulting from the war in Ukraine. According to data at the end of operations in the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for April delivery were down $2.93 from the previous close.
The reference barrel in the United States fell after be about 15% more expensive only in the last two days due to the risks posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine for global supply, which have propelled it to a price not seen in eleven years.
“We expect Russian oil exports to fall by 1 million barrels per day due to the indirect impact of sanctions and voluntary actions by companies,” Jarand Rystad, chief executive officer of energy market analyst firm Rystad Energy, said in a note. .
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A week after Russian troops began the invasion of Ukraine by order of the president, Vladimir Putin, the market is also reacting to the possibility of the West extending these economic sanctions to Russia’s energy sector. Before the war in Eastern Europe, the energy market was already very tight due to supply difficulties in absorbing the growing global demand derived from the recovery from the covid-19 crisis.
The countries integrated into the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed on Tuesday to release 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves to curb the rise in prices, although some analysts believe that it will not be enough.
Meanwhile, the OPEC + alliance decided yesterday to stick to its plan to gradually increase production agreed in the summer of last year and will add 400,000 barrels a day of crude oil to its supplies in April, despite international calls to open the taps more. Analysts pointed out that during the day the advance in the negotiations of the Western powers to recover the nuclear pact with Iran, in which the US participates indirectly, influenced.
“Crude prices are playing ping-pong as energy traders focus on the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Iran’s move toward a nuclear deal,” said Oanda analyst Ed Moya. Meanwhile, natural gas contracts for April delivery were down 4 cents to $4.72 per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline contracts due the same month were down 2 cents to $3.28 a gallon. .
