russian
New York (awp / afp) – Oil prices ended sharply higher on Thursday, boosted by the change in position of Germany, now open to an embargo on Russian exports.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for June delivery gained 2.15%, to close at 107.59 dollars.
As for the barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also with maturity in June, it took 3.27%, to 105.36 dollars, its highest level for ten days.
The news about Germany “has taken us out of this corridor that we’ve been in for a few days,” said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group. “The market was waiting for a catalyst.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the German representation to the European Union has indicated that the country is no longer opposed to an embargo.
Germany has made it a condition that it be put in place gradually to give it time to find alternative sources of energy supply.
Also according to the financial daily, a formal agreement could be reached as early as next week.
European energy ministers are due to meet on Monday May 2 in an “extraordinary session”, announced the French Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili.
The meeting was officially scheduled to discuss Russia’s suspension of gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, indicated that these two countries were now supplied “by their neighbors in the European Union”.
Europe’s main natural gas futures contract, the TTF, fell more than 8% on Thursday.
“Now that Germany is getting closer to a total embargo, Russia could become more aggressive in suspending its supplies,” anticipated Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda.
Moreover, according to Kpler analysts, China has recently favored Iran over Russia for its oil deliveries, despite the attractive prices charged by the Russians to find outlets.
Despite the cold snap at the start of the week, linked to a possible recession in several major nations, oil has now rebounded and “the short-term outlook is quite good”, according to Edward Moya.
“The US economy remains solid”, despite the surprise decline in GDP in the first quarter (by 1.4% at an annual rate), announced Thursday, argued the analyst. “Even the increasingly strong dollar is unable to stop the rise in prices.”
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