Oil prices are down slightly on Monday after a jump last week following a decision by a number of OPEC+ countries, including Saudi Arabia, to further cut production.
U.S. and European stock exchanges were closed on Friday due to the Easter holiday.
The price of June futures for Brent crude oil on London’s ICE Futures exchange was $85 a barrel by 8:05 a.m. Monday, down $0.12 (0.14%) from the previous session’s close. Those contracts rose $0.13 (0.2%) to $85.12 a barrel on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for May oil at NYMEX fell by $0.09 (0.11%) to $80.61 per barrel by that time. At the end of previous session the contracts value grew by $0.09 (0.1%) to $80.7 per barrel.
Brent gained 6.6% and WTI gained almost 6.7%.
The market’s attention this week is fixed on monthly reviews of OPEC and International Energy Agency (IEA) on oil market and also on US Department of Energy data on energy reserves in the country.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported a decline in both oil and gasoline and distillate inventories in the states.
“Economic statistical data will be key for the oil market this week,” notes Saxo Capital Markets Pte analyst Charu Chanana.
The recent decision to cut production by a number of OPEC+ countries “was partly designed to squeeze short sellers out of the oil market, and oil prices may now be better able to reflect market fundamentals,” Bloomberg quotes the expert as saying.
