(LONDON) Oil prices ended higher on Monday, after a choppy session and a week of heavy losses as the gloomy outlook for the global economy weighed on demand for crude.
Updated yesterday at 3:57 p.m.
A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 1.82% to $96.65.
A barrel of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery rose 1.96% to $90.76.
After downward pressure from a weakening demand forecast, gold prices resumed their biggest single-session gain since late July as tight supply concerns resumed. vigor.
Rises in both global crude benchmarks, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had been reversed “as rising interest rates and the consequent cooling it is expected to have on global economies” had trumped “previous questions about the lack of supply caused by the conflict”, explained Sophie Lund-Yates, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
On Thursday, the Bank of England (BoE) announced a hike in its key rates by half a percentage point, a drastic measure to counter inflation which is accelerating and will, according to it, plunge the United Kingdom into recession for over a year.
The BoE is following the example of the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, which chose to raise their rates by 0.75 and 0.50 percentage points respectively in July.
However, “supply remains relatively limited,” warns Stephen Brennock, analyst at PVM Energy.
Especially since on Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) announced only a meager increase in supply of 100,000 barrels per day for September.
“At the same time, the producer group highlighted the lack of spare production capacity,” Brennock recalls.