(New York) Oil prices recovered on Friday after their sharp fall the day before, with the market’s attention now focused on OPEC+, which meets next week and which could intervene to halt the fall in prices.
A barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in January gained 4.12% to $80.61, returning above the $80 mark.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December, jumped 4.10% to $75.89.
The day before, the two global benchmarks had plummeted, both falling to their lowest levels since the beginning of July, at $76.60 per barrel for Brent, and $72.16 per barrel for WTI.
“Thursday we saw sales accelerate when we broke the floor of 78 dollars per barrel” for Brent, Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates commented to AFP.
“Today we saw some hedging as prices fell to a very low level,” added the analyst.
Market attention is now focused on OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies), whose intervention is becoming increasingly likely as prices fall, according to analysts.
“This pushes the market to think that OPEC+, while maintaining its voluntary production reductions, could start to think about additional reductions in order to support prices,” explained Andy Lipow.
“OPEC+ will have to move up a gear and give solid indications on what it intends to do in 2024,” also said Bjarne Schieldrop, analyst at Seb interviewed by AFP.
For the analyst, the question arises whether “Saudi Arabia should bear the burden alone [avec seulement un peu d’aide de la Russie] » by further reducing its production, or if “it could require certain other members of OPEC to join it in regulating the market”.
The next ministerial meeting of OPEC+ members is scheduled for November 26 in Vienna, headquarters of the alliance.
“So far, it has been mainly Saudi Arabia, with a little help from Russia, which has proactively managed the oil market and the price of oil by making significant reductions,” recalls Mr. Schieldrop.
In April, the kingdom was still producing 10.5 million barrels per day, before reducing to 9 million barrels per day, which remains its current production level. Its ordinary production is around 10 million barrels per day, according to Seb.