(New York) Oil prices ended lower on Friday after news that a leak in a pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, which had put prices under pressure, would finally soon be repaired.
Updated yesterday at 4:58 p.m.
The barrel of Brent from the North Sea for October delivery dropped 1.45% to 98.15 dollars whereas earlier it had gone back above the symbolic bar of 100 dollars a barrel.
A barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery fell 2.38% to $92.09.
“The leak can be repaired faster than expected because it’s on land and not in the ocean,” said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates. This incident had pushed prices up in recent sessions, because there were fears of a longer and more difficult repair.
On a broader level, Thursday’s upward revision of world oil demand by the International Energy Agency (IEA) gave new impetus, also upwards, to crude prices.
At the same time, the IEA also raised its forecast for world oil supply, which should increase by another 1 million barrels per day by the end of the year.
“The market will be amply supplied in the coming months,” according to Commerzbank, whose analysts expect prices to fall through the end of the year.
Disruptions in Russian oil deliveries this week, however, served as a reminder of the fragility of supplies from Moscow and the dependence of some European nations.
The supply of Russian crude to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via Ukraine had been halted after a bank transaction linked to sanctions targeting Moscow was refused. Deliveries resumed on Wednesday in Slovakia.
“However, as no permanent solution has been found, the problem threatens to resurface in the future,” note analysts from Commerzbank.