Oil prices are moderately lower on Monday morning, holding near four-month highs on expectations of an imminent fuel shortage in the global market.
The price of October Brent futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange is at $86.15 a barrel by 8:15 a.m. Q1, down 9 cents (0.1%) from the previous session’s close. Last Friday, these contracts rose by $1.1 (1.3%) to $86.24 per barrel.
Quotes of futures for WTI crude oil for September at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by the specified time decreased by 6 cents (0.07%) and amounted to $82.76 per barrel. At the end of the previous session they rose by $1.27 (1.6%) – to $82.82 per barrel.
Over the past week, Brent rose by 2.2%, WTI – by 2.8%, and both brands closed at their highs since April 12.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced the extension of an additional voluntary production cut of 1 million bpd for September. Thus, the country’s actual oil production level next month is expected to be 9 million bpd.
In addition, Russia will also continue to voluntarily cut supplies to external markets by 300,000 bpd in September, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.
“We expect Brent to end the year near the $85 per barrel mark. Ultimately OPEC+ looks determined to limit supply. We also expect global oil demand to grow at a 2% annualized rate in the second half of 2023,” said Edward Gardner, commodity economist at Capital Economics.
Meanwhile, data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes showed that over the past week the number of active oil rigs in the U.S. fell by 4 units to 525.
