(London) Oil prices rose on Tuesday, alternating up and down since the day before, caught between announcements of reduced supply from Russia and Saudi Arabia and fears for the global economy.
Around 12 p.m. (Eastern time), a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in September, rose 2.02% to 76.16 dollars.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in August, took 2.13% to 71.28 dollars.
On Tuesday, two of the world’s top three crude producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, announced cuts in their supply: a renewal in August of a limitation on extractions for the first, a drop in exports for the second.
After climbing in the wake of this announcement, prices fell back later in the session.
They are now rebounding “but remain below the peak observed on Monday,” notes Craig Erlam, an analyst at Oanda, who sees a lack of appetite for oil on the part of investors.
“The Saudi announcement was widely anticipated” given the lack of momentum in the oil market, comments Warren Patterson, analyst at ING, and if the Russian promise was unexpected, “there will be doubts about the application of the measure “.
“Russia claims to have cut production by 500 million barrels a day earlier in the year, but maritime exports remain at their pre-war level” in Ukraine, he adds.
“Uncertainties about the global economy” dominate the market for the moment, explains Ricardo Evangelista, analyst at ActivTrades.
The demand for black gold could indeed suffer from a less marked recovery than expected in China and from the policies of the fight against inflation of the central banks which slow down growth throughout the world.
“In this context, the effect of announcements of lower production on prices is limited,” adds Mr. Evangelista.
On Tuesday, trading volumes were also limited by a national holiday in the United States.