(New York) The price of a barrel of oil rose on Monday in the wake of Wall Street, after reaching a new low since December 2021, approaching the threshold of 70 dollars.
The barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in May gained 1.12% to 73.79 dollars after having brushed the symbolic threshold of 70 dollars in the morning.
Its US equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for April delivery, rose 1.34% to $67.64 after hitting $64.12, a new low since December 2021.
The fall of the two world crude oil benchmarks continued in the first part of the session after the rescue in extremis of Credit Suisse, bought at a knockdown price by the competing bank UBS.
“Relative stability in the banking sector after the agreement reached over the weekend helped” the recovery in black gold prices, said John Kilduff of Again Capital.
But, for Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Energy, “it would be absurd to believe that the financial turmoil is the only factor behind” the drop in crude prices. “The fact is that the world oil market is currently well supplied, even in surplus”, he recalls.
In addition, the increasingly palpable prospects of a recession in the United States, according to Edward Moya, “lead to a destruction of demand”, indicated the analyst of Oanda to AFP. He recalled that Goldman Sachs on Monday morning abandoned its projection of 100 dollars a barrel of Brent in one year.
But in the second part of the session, “oversold” oil regained strength “on a technical rebound, motivated by cheap purchases”, summarized John Kilduff.
The fact that the stock markets have recovered, relieved by the takeover of Credit Suisse, and a weakening of the dollar have also played in favor of the barrel of black gold, underlined the analyst.
On the natural gas side, the European price slipped below 40 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), its lowest since July 2021, held back by mild weather and high storage levels.
The Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, concluded at 39.00 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
“Gas inventories are still near season highs and 20% above normal levels,” DNB analysts said.
Since the start of the year, European natural gas has fallen by more than 47%, far from its historic record reached in March 2022 at 345 euros per MWh, but still at high levels compared to previous years. In 2020, gas fluctuated around 15 euros per MWh.