(New York) Oil prices retracted on Friday for the last session of the year, in a market with very low volumes, investors wondering if the 2021 surge will continue.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in March, which is the first day of use as a benchmark contract, fell 2.20% to $ 77.78. In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February shed 2.31% to $ 75.21.
In 2021, the price of Brent climbed more than 50% and that of WTI by more than 55%, boosted by the recovery in demand with the end of health restrictions at the beginning of the year.
On the supply side, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners within OPEC + have only accepted a cautious reopening of the gates each month.
The rough references thus had their best year since 2009.
“Friday’s strong pullback is a bit inexplicable. The volume of trade on the market is very light and this withdrawal is probably explained by position adjustments for the end-of-year accounts, ”said Matt Smith responsible for oil analysis for the specialist data provider. in Kpler raw materials.
“The fundamentals remain solid” for the price of black gold, he assured.
At the beginning of 2022, the oil markets will follow from Tuesday the monthly meeting of OPEC +, which must decide whether or not to maintain its program of gradual relaxation of its production limits.
In December, they had decided to increase their production quotas by 400,000 barrels per day.