(New York) Oil prices approached their lowest levels in eight months on Monday before rebounding and ending up, helped by the decline in the dollar and a slight inflection in the stock markets.
Posted at 3:24 p.m.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude from the North Sea, for delivery in November, gained 0.71%, to close at $92.00.
As for the barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), with maturity in October, it took 0.72%, to 85.73 dollars.
Against the background of closure in London, a public holiday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the courses experienced an air pocket in the first part of the session, to the point of flirting with the floors reached ten days ago.
Brent thus retracted to $88.50, not far from $87.24 on September 8, which had marked its lowest level since January. The WTI melted to 82.10 dollars, against 81.20 dollars ten days ago.
“The market was not comfortable with the idea of going below $85” for WTI, commented Bart Melek of TD Securities. “The idea is that we should not have a significant correction”, after the one that has cut prices by more than 30% since June.
For the analyst, the slight decline in the dollar also contributed to the rebound – the majority of black gold purchases being denominated in this currency –, as well as the better performance of the stock markets after a sharply lower opening.
“It illustrates how volatile the oil market is right now,” added Matt Smith of Kpler, who said prices “seem to be finding support” between $80 and $85 for WTI.
The market is also benefiting, according to the analyst, from press reports according to which the Chinese authorities are considering allocating new export quotas to refiners.
To meet these quotas, refiners could thus increase their imports of crude oil, which would be likely to support prices.
Since last week, “it’s been a Jekyll and Hyde market”, summed up Matt Smith, in which “people don’t want to push prices too much because of fears of inflation, but also don’t want to take them too far down given the constraints on demand”.