The oil market ran out of steam again at the end of the session on Wednesday after an initial surge, operators’ concerns about the increase in OPEC production outweighing the renewed tension in the Middle East.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in December increased by 0.46%, to close at $73.90.
A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) due in November gained 0.39%, to $70.10.
Like the day before, black gold skyrocketed at the start of the session, encouraged by the escalation in the Middle East and the Iranian attack against Israel.
Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with fighters from the pro-Iranian Islamist movement Hezbollah since the start of the Jewish state’s ground incursion into Lebanese territory, according to the Israeli army.
Furthermore, Israel promised a response after Iran fired around 200 missiles into its territory, most of which were intercepted.
“Speculation is rife about the risk of US involvement, due to its support for Israel,” observed Susannah Streeter of Hargreaves Lansdown in a note.
But after coming close to 4% gains, Brent and WTI stalled.
The slowdown first came after the release of a report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), according to which crude inventories increased by 3.9 million barrels last week, more than the 1.4 million anticipated by analysts.
This surprise jump is due to the sharp slowdown in activity at American refineries, whose utilization rate increased from 90.9% to 87.6% of capacity.
In addition, the volumes of refined products delivered to the American market, an implicit indicator of demand, fell by 7% over one week.
These two elements demonstrate a lesser appetite for refined products in the United States, a negative factor for prices.
The EIA report was supplemented by communication from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies in the OPEC+ agreement which, following a ministerial meeting on Wednesday, did not reports a change in its production trajectory.
The alliance plans to let eight of its members gradually reverse the production cuts of 2.2 million barrels made since last year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Saudi Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, warned the members of the cartel against non-compliance with the quotas set by OPEC + which could cause the barrel to fall by up to 50 dollars.
Unusually, OPEC published, on its X account, a categorical denial of the comments reported by the financial daily.
“They are panicking,” commented John Kilduff of Again Capital. “They see that the market environment is not favorable to them, […] but they still try to add barrels to the market because they don’t want to lose more market share. »