(New York) Oil prices ended in disarray on Friday, the day after an OPEC + producer summit and in the wake of the stock market slump.
The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for February delivery rose 0.30% to $ 69.88.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the month of January dropped 0.36% to 66.26 dollars.
Witnessing the high volatility of the markets in recent days, the two contracts climbed more than 2% earlier in the session. Over the week, Brent lost 3.01% and WTI dropped 4.14%.
“There is increased volatility in the oil market, but also in the markets in general, due to uncertainties over the new Omicron variant, our position in the economic cycle and the course of the potential monetary tightening”, summarized to AFP Matt Smith, head of petroleum analysis for commodity data provider Kpler.
The eventful week was marked by a summit Thursday of producers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies via the OPEC + agreement.
The OPEC + countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, decided during this closed-door meeting, held by videoconference, to continue increasing their production in January by 400,000 barrels per day.
“This unexpected move suggests that the group is not hampered by the recent drop in oil prices”, triggered by the demand threat posed by the new variant of COVID-19, “nor by the prospect of release. strategic crude reserves ”by several consumer countries, led by the United States, comments PVM analyst Stephen Brennock.
On the contrary, some analysts expected the cartel to put its policy on hold and aim for production in January identical to December.
Producing countries “have given confidence to the market by continuing to increase production as they continue to see strong demand, which is positive,” noted Matt Smith.
The analyst noted, however, that OPEC + retained the right “to adjust their attitude” before the next cartel meeting “if there is an impact of the variant on the economy”, added the expert.
OPEC + reserves the right to review its decision “depending on the developments of the pandemic” by the next meeting, scheduled for January 4, said its press release.
Washington, which had repeatedly called on the cartel to loosen the black gold tap in order to calm the surge in prices, also “welcomed” Thursday the decision to continue increasing production.