(New York) Oil prices ended higher on Wednesday, supported by speculative traders who ignored the report on American stocks showing a decline in demand.
A barrel of North Sea Brent crude for August delivery rose 0.28% to close at $85.25.
A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) of the same maturity gained 0.08%, to $80.90.
However, the prices of black gold were shaken up by the publication of the weekly report from the American Energy Information Agency (EIA).
It reported a jump of 3.6 million barrels in commercial crude stocks, while analysts expected a contraction of 2.8 million.
For Matt Smith, Kpler analyst, this downside is due, in part, to the decrease in exports (-11% over one week), attributable, according to him, to weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, which disrupted maritime traffic.
The region thus saw the first tropical storm of the season, called Albertowhich affected part of Texas.
But the main culprits are American refineries, whose activity continued to slow down for the third consecutive week.
At the same time, the volume of refined products delivered to the American market, considered as an indicator of demand, fell, in particular for gasoline (-4.4%) and distilled products (-11.1%), a category which includes diesel.
But after a brief decline, prices recovered, quickly returning to positive territory.
For Robert Yawger of Mizuho, it was the approach of the threshold of 80 dollars for WTI (the barrel went down to 80.18) which triggered a technical rebound.
“Speculators positioned themselves to defend $80 and avoid a panic that would have wiped them out,” explained the analyst.
However, as it stands, “there is no catalyst that justifies prices rising, and certainly not the fundamentals” of the market, underlines Robert Yawger, who warns that the relationship between supply and demand always ends up dictate courses, in the long term, “but not today”.
Operators also benefited from the geopolitical premium, which has been increasing in recent days with the prospect of a possible escalation between the Lebanese pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah and Israel.
Ryan McKay of TD Securities also cited renewed attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.