WildebeestEve York.– Texas Intermediate Oil Price (WTI) opened this Friday 1.89% higher to $106.25 the barrel at a time when the supply of black gold is limited, but, at the same time, there is a fear that a possible slowdown in economic activity will cause a drop in demand in the energy market.
A At 9:02 a.m. local time in New York (1:02 p.m. GMT), WTI futures contracts for delivery in August added $1.98 from the close of the previous session.
“The oil market is becoming less certain given rising recession fears; however, the sanctions that prevent barrels of Russian oil from reaching the hands of Western energy companies continue to have a notable upward influence on prices”, explains the president of the group Sevens Report, Tom Essaye, in a note.
Last Wednesday, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, He announced that the agency will maintain its policy of raising interest rates even at the risk of the country entering a recession, a scenario that it did not rule out.
In an appearance before a committee of the US Senate., Powell assured that a “soft landing” of the economy continues to be the objective of the Fed (that is, a drop in inflation that affects economic activity as little as possible), but admitted that this scenario is increasingly “more difficult ».
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Likewise, yesterday, Powell admitted that the body he leads erroneously estimated the risk of high inflation.
For its part, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its (OPEC+) allies are due to meet on June 30 and are expected to stick to an earlier plan to slightly accelerate oil production increases in July and August, rather than provide more oil.