Oil ends up slightly after disappointing US stocks


New York (awp / afp) – Oil prices, enthusiastic in session, finally closed small on Wednesday after a somewhat disappointing reduction in US oil stocks but favorable employment data.

This allowed the barrel of Brent to rise again above $ 80 for the first time since the appearance of the Omicron variant in late November.

The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent maturing in March rose 1% to $ 80.80.

In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery rose 1.11% to $ 77.85.

In the morning, the price of black gold had posted a stronger increase after the announcement of a jump in private job creation in the United States, but the increase moderated after the publication of inventory figures oil by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA).

The private sector in the United States created nearly twice as many jobs as expected in December and a total of more than 6 million in 2021, according to the monthly survey by business services company ADP released on Wednesday. reassure the market.

However, the data was collected in mid-December, before the extremely contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19 disrupted the functioning of the economy.

As for US crude inventories they fell by 2.1 million barrels last week when analysts expected a much higher drop of 3.65 million barrels, according to the median of analysts polled by the agency Bloomberg.

It is nevertheless the fourth significant weekly reduction in commercial reserves of US crude in as many weeks.

Reflecting lower demand for the last week of the year as the Omicron variant curtailed travel, gasoline reserves rose sharply by 10.1 million barrels, a figure that also caught analysts by surprise.

“The markets were surprised by the volume of gasoline inventory increases as we start to see the impact of Omicron on demand as more people stay at home to work,” said Andy Lipow. by Lipow Oil Associates.

The price trend remains well oriented “while the supply remains narrow”, adds the analyst citing the disruptions in production in several countries such as Ecuador, Libya and Nigeria.

vmt / tu / eb



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