(New York) Oil prices enjoyed a second consecutive positive session on Wednesday, boosted by information that the OPEC+ alliance is considering additional production cuts.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in January gained 1.73%, closing at $83.10.
A barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) of the same maturity rose 1.89%, to $77.86.
According to Wall Street Journalthe Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners in the OPEC+ agreement are considering an additional voluntary production reduction of up to one million barrels per day, following their ministerial meeting on Thursday .
This contraction would come in addition to those already made, whether it concerns the 1.3 million daily barrels already withdrawn by Saudi Arabia and Russia or the 1.6 million retained by nine members of the cartel, including the Saudis, since april.
But the deal seemed far from being concluded, according to other information, notably that of S&P Global Commodity Insights, according to which no agreement had yet been reached, a further postponement of the meeting not being excluded.
The meeting has already been postponed from Sunday to Thursday, with two sources reporting “dissensions” to AFP.
“We don’t even know if the meeting is going to take place tomorrow (Thursday),” insisted Stephen Schork, analyst at The Schork Group. ” This is unheard of. »
“If the decision is postponed again, there could be a downward turn in prices,” warned Hargeaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter in a note.
“If you can’t convince everyone” to turn off the black gold tap a little more, “the real question is whether the Saudis will be willing to sacrifice a little more market share for a quarter or two” and take the initiative to unilaterally reduce their volumes, noted Stephen Schork.
In addition to the uncertainty surrounding the OPEC+ meeting, prices were encouraged, just like on Tuesday, by disruptions at the Russian terminal in Novorossiysk.
According to Reuters, loadings had not yet resumed on Wednesday due to difficult weather conditions linked to a storm which hit Crimea, occupied Ukrainian regions and south-west Russia.
Obsessed with OPEC+, the market chose to ignore the publication of the American Energy Information Agency (EIA), according to which crude stocks in the United States increased for the sixth consecutive week, by 1.6 million barrels this time.
“It was a bad report, particularly regarding gasoline demand, which was the salient point,” said Stephen Schork. Gasoline deliveries to the United States fell to their lowest level in two months.