(New York) Oil prices fell back on Monday, after several consecutive sessions of increases, in a market marked by repositioning and some profit-taking, due to a lack of new developments in the Middle East.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in June, fell by 0.96%, to close at $90.38.
As for the American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), with maturity in May, it lost 0.55%, to 86.43 dollars. The WTI remained positive for six sessions in a row.
For Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates, this contraction comes “after Israel withdrew more troops from southern Gaza” on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nevertheless declared that a date had been set for an offensive on the town of Rafah, considered by the Jewish state to be one of the last strongholds of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, a source within the Palestinian Islamist movement indicated that Hamas was studying a three-stage truce proposal, which would include the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
“We cannot relax, because there has not yet been an Iranian response [à la frappe sur l’annexe de l’ambassade d’Iran à Damas]but we know it’s going to happen,” commented Stephen Schork, analyst at Schork Group.
“There was a lot of buying on Thursday and Friday, because no one wanted to be exposed before the weekend,” he explained. “But it’s a market that’s driven by headlines. And since we didn’t have one, it folds up. »
“There is a bit of profit taking, but more generally portfolio adjustments,” continued Stephen Schork. “People have gone a little too far and are putting their positions in order. »
“Without continued escalation in the Middle East, crude prices could approach their peak,” said Daniel Ghali, analyst at TD Securites, in a note.
For their part, in a note, JPMorgan analysts ruled out the scenario of a barrel of Brent at $100 this year.
“We assume that OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in the OPEC+ agreement) will not push prices to extreme levels, because the 2022 crisis showed that this destroys demand for them by accelerating non-OPEC supply and alternatives to oil,” they wrote.