(New York) Oil prices ended lower on Tuesday, in the absence of any major new developments in the Middle East, and as the American government revised its estimates of global production this year upwards.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in June dropped 1.06%, to close at $89.42.
A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), due in May, lost 1.39%, to $85.23.
For Carsten Fritsch of Commerzbank, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Gaza, as well as the new truce proposal, currently being studied by Hamas, “reduced the risk premium” from which black gold prices had benefited in recent years. last days.
“We have just spent several weeks in orbit,” recalled Bart Melek, of TD Securities. “But the escalation has stopped”, for the moment, in the Middle East, added the analyst.
However, “it is too early to act as if everything had dissipated,” warned Carsten Fritsch, in a note.
In addition to the war between Hamas and Israel, operators are still worried about the response promised against Israel by Iran after the strike on an annex of its embassy in Damascus, Syria.
Prices were also affected by the monthly report from the American Energy Information Agency (EIA), which revised upwards its global production estimates for the last three quarters of 2024.
The EIA also raised its consumption projections, but sees, overall, an almost balanced market in the third quarter, and supply exceeding demand in the fourth.
But for Bart Melek, the market should remain tight. “American economic indicators are solid,” he recalled, and demand for gasoline appears sustained in the United States.
Analysts expect the EIA to announce on Wednesday a further decline of 2.3 million barrels in gasoline reserves last week, according to a consensus established by the Bloomberg agency.
“We don’t even talk about a soft landing anymore,” argues Bart Melek. “There won’t even be a landing” for the American economy, which should maintain its momentum, according to him.