(New York) Oil prices rose on Wednesday, sucked up by good news from demand, which remains strong despite fears of an economic slowdown, according to US figures.
Posted at 3:13 p.m.
The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for December delivery gained 2.32%, to close at $95.69.
The price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also with maturity in December, gained 3.03%, to 87.91 dollars.
Already buoyed by the weaker dollar, the market hailed the weekly U.S. inventory report, released by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), which highlighted the economy’s appetite US for refined products.
Demand reached 20.5 million barrels per day during the week ended October 21, a level higher than at the same time last year.
The whole was driven by demand for gasoline, up 2.9% over one week, as well as kerosene, at its highest for a month.
The picture was even embellished by external demand, which saw US crude exports reach the highest level in the country’s history, at 5.1 million barrels per day.
These elements have erased, in the minds of operators, the fact that US commercial stocks of crude have increased much more than expected, by 2.5 million barrels against only 1.5 expected by analysts.
“On the face of it, it wasn’t a very positive report,” for prices, with rising stocks generally favoring lower prices, “but diving into it, it bodes well for the future,” commented Robert Yawger, of Mizuho.
The analyst also noted that, even in decline, the refinery utilization rate stood at a much higher level than usual at this time.
The months of September and October are, in fact, most often dedicated to maintenance, which mechanically lowers refinery activity.
“There was no slowdown” in activity during these two months, he insisted, which shows that “demand is good”.
Faced with this demand, as Edward Moya of Oanda pointed out, “production is stable, and it will probably remain so unless the oil giants announce major capacity investments”.
US crude production thus came out last week at 12 million barrels per day, a threshold around which it has been oscillating for more than four months and which remains far from its pre-pandemic level, i.e. 13 million barrels. .
If the price at the pump continues to fall in the United States, gasoline futures are at a two-month high, indicating that fuel will come back up soon.
This situation is favored by solid US demand, relatively low inventories, but also the acceleration of exports, particularly to Europe, which is struggling with a major energy crisis.
For Robert Yawger, “this could quickly become a political subject” for the government of Joe Biden, which has always refused, so far, to limit American exports to relieve gasoline prices, a strong marker for the American motorists.