(New York) Oil prices rose again on Wednesday, the third in a row, supported by the bout of dollar weakness as well as data showing a rebound in US demand for refined products.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in May appreciated by 1.81%, to close at 76.69 dollars.
The barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also due in May, gained 1.75%, to 70.90 dollars.
Prices benefited from the decline in the greenback, which fell Wednesday to its lowest level in a month and a half after the communication from the American central bank (Fed), interpreted as less offensive than the previous ones.
Since the vast majority of black gold contracts are denominated in dollars, a fall in its value tends to automatically raise the price of a barrel.
Overall, the trend has been up since Monday, after a nightmarish week for oil. According to Robert Yawger of Mizuho, speculative traders who had bet lower took their profits, which helped revive the market.
The momentum was kept alive by the release of the U.S. Inventory Report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) on Wednesday.
The most scrutinized figure in the report showed an increase in commercial crude reserves (+1.1 million barrels), the twelfth in thirteen weeks, while analysts expected a decrease (-1.8 million).
But this data, which was mainly the result of a statistical adjustment rather than a change in market fundamentals, was this time discarded in favor of elements relating to demand.
Gasoline reserves have thus fallen sharply by 6.4 million barrels, while analysts were only expecting a decrease of 2.3 million.
The movement is partly due to a rebound in US domestic demand, which rose above the symbolic threshold of 20 million barrels per day, or 4.7% better than the previous week.
Gasoline recovered, but the surge came mainly from distilled products (+6.3% over one week), a category in which diesel fuel appears, and propane (+45.0%).
“Refiners are going to have to speed up,” anticipated Robert Yawger. Because refineries “cannot run at 88% of their capacity (as is currently the case) and hope to see gasoline reserves at their highest before the weekend of Memorial Day” (holiday), end of May , which traditionally corresponds to the start of the major road trip season in the United States.