(New York) Oil prices ended in dispersed order Tuesday, affected by the strong dollar but less worried about a possible withdrawal from US strategic reserves with a view, for the Biden administration, to lower prices.
The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for January delivery rose 0.44% to $ 82.43.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the month of December lost 0.14% to 80.76 dollars.
Despite a slight drop in prices in recent weeks, crude prices remain close to their highs reached at the end of October, and are still up nearly 60% for Brent and more than 65% for WTI since the start. of the year.
Prices hit a deeper low in the morning on the strength of the dollar which has climbed to a peak since July 2020. A rise in the greenback is usually unfavorable to commodity prices, whose exports are denominated in this motto.
But the prices of the main crude contracts then regained some strength “when it seems that there is less likelihood that the US administration will spill oil from its strategic reserves” on the market, said Phil. Flynn from Price Futures Group.
Since the end of last week, prices have trended lower in fear that the United States will draw on its important strategic reserves of crude oil to lower prices.
But on Tuesday, before Senate Energy Committee Stephen Nalley, the acting director of the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) said such a move “would be short-lived.”
“In the end, the importance of the impact would be short-lived, depending on the volume” released on the market, said the official.
In addition, a senior Democratic official, Steny Hoyer, leader of the majority in the House of Representatives, on Tuesday showed his opposition to the idea of drawing on these strategic reserves, unlike his colleague in the Senate Chuck Schumer, who had supported this perspective the day before.
“Because of this difference of opinion among Democratic leaders, the administration is not likely to draw in these reservations,” said Mr. Flynn, which relieved the courts a bit.
The session was also an expiration day for some contracts, which added to its volatility.