Oil prices are moderately falling on Tuesday afternoon amid low trading activity after Christmas.
The cost of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 13:15 pm is $78.96 per barrel, which is $0.11 (0.14%) lower than at the close of the previous trading.
Futures for WTI for February in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have fallen by $0.29 (0.39%) to $73.27 per barrel by this time.
Downward pressure on the quotes is exerted by the strengthening of the US dollar. The DXY index, which reflects its value against six major world currencies, is up less than 0.1%, which reduces the attractiveness of commodities quoted in US currency.
Oil prices are rising on Friday and ending the week with steady growth due to problems with the transportation of energy resources through the Red Sea.
The movement of tankers in the Red Sea has sharply decreased due to attacks by Yemeni Houthis on ships.
The cost of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:20 a.m. is $80.04 per barrel, which is $0.65 (0.82%) higher than at the close of the previous session. As a result of previous trading, these contracts fell by $0.31 (0.4%) to $79.39 per barrel.
Futures for WTI for February in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by $0.6 (0.81%) to $74.49 per barrel by this time. On Thursday, these contracts fell by $0.33 (0.4%) to $73.89 per barrel.
Since the beginning of this week, Brent has risen in price by 4.5%, WTI – by 3%.
On Thursday, oil prices fell on the information about Angola’s withdrawal from OPEC, where the country had been a member for 16 years. This decision of Angola indicates the existence of serious contradictions in OPEC, which is trying to limit production to support oil prices, Market Watch notes.
“At first glance, Angola’s withdrawal from OPEC is not such a big deal, given that the country could barely meet its production quota,” said Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn.
“The concern, however, is that Angola’s withdrawal could signal latent tensions over OPEC ceding market share to non-member producers,” he said, according to Market Watch.
Oil prices are moving weakly and in different directions on Tuesday morning after strong growth in the previous session.
The price of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:11 a.m. was $78.09 per barrel, which is $0.14 (0.18%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, these contracts rose in price by $1.4 (1.8%) to $77.95 per barrel.
Quotations for January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $0.12 (0.17%) to $72.35 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $1.04 (1.5%) to $72.47 per barrel.
The rise in oil prices was triggered by attacks by Yemeni Houthis on ships traveling through the Red Sea. As a result, the largest maritime carriers began to redirect their tankers and container ships to other routes, and BP plc suspended all oil transportation through the region.
“These attacks are nothing new, but their intensity has increased in recent weeks,” wrote Robert Fraser of Schneider Electric. – “The Houthis do not have the strength to blockade the region, but they can disrupt shipping and change risk assessments.
In addition, the oil market was supported by the results of the Federal Reserve meeting held last week. Fed officials signaled that the cycle of interest rate hikes is over and predicted a 75 basis point cut in the key rate over the next year.
“The Fed’s decision bolstered hopes for a soft landing, and the macroeconomic data was not bad enough to increase fears of a hard landing,” Sevens Report Research analysts wrote.
Oil prices are rising on Monday amid fears of disruptions in the supply of raw materials through the Red Sea due to attacks by Yemeni Houthis on ships.
The Suez Canal Authority said it was “closely monitoring” the situation after the US reported 14 Yemeni Houthi attack drones shot down on Saturday, targeting merchant ships. A number of shipping companies, including A.P. Moeller-Maersk AS and Hapag-Lloyd, have announced that they will suspend the passage of their vessels through the Red Sea.
The Red Sea “is one of the most important routes for maritime oil supplies,” accounting for about 10% of global flows, says Manish Raj, managing director of Velandera Energy Partners.
The cost of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:20 a.m. on Thursday amounted to $76.88 per barrel, which is $0.33 (0.42%) higher than at the close of the previous session. As a result of previous trading, these contracts fell by $0.06 (0.1%) to $76.55 per barrel.
January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by $0.36 (0.5%) to $71.79 per barrel by this time. On Friday, contracts fell by $0.15 (0.2%) to $71.43 per barrel.
Over the past week, Brent rose by 0.9% and WTI by 0.3%. Both brands ended the week in the black for the first time since late October due to growing expectations of monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve next year.
Oil prices continue to rise moderately on Tuesday morning, recovering from a decline over the past seven weeks.
The price of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:07 a.m. is $76.54 per barrel, which is $0.51 (0.67%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, these contracts rose in price by 19 cents to $76.03 per barrel.
Quotes for January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by $0.54 (0.76%) to $71.86 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by 9 cents to $71.32 per barrel.
Prior to that, both brands had been in the red for seven weeks in a row, which has not been seen since 2018.
The day before, oil rose in price “due to short-term oversold conditions in the futures market” after WTI quotes tested a key resistance level, said Tyler Ritchie, editor of Sevens Report Research. The market was also supported by improved investor sentiment and demand for risky assets, he added.
At the same time, a negative factor was the data that consumer prices in China in November fell by 0.5% in annual terms, the highest rate in three years. Deflation in China was recorded for the second month in a row, which indicates a weakening in demand for raw materials for the industrial sector, Market Watch notes.
“We see that growth is weakening in China, Europe is in recession or on the verge of recession, and the US economy has also slowed down, although not as much as others,” said JonesTrading analyst Mike O’Rourke. – “That’s why the price of WTI remains around $70 per barrel.
Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Peter Kmec, Vice Prime Minister for Recovery, Resilience and Use of European Funds of Slovakia, discussed the possibility of oil supplies through the Odesa-Brody pipeline.
“We discussed the situation at border crossings, bilateral trade, industrial cooperation, and energy. We are inspired by the implemented project to supply oil through Ukraine to Slovakia through the port terminal and pipeline from Odesa,” Svyrydenko wrote on Twitter (X).
According to her, Ukraine is also interested in providing Slovakia with natural gas storage services in its underground storage facilities (UGS).
As part of the Ukrainian delegation’s visit, Ukrtransnafta CEO Volodymyr Tsependa met with a representative of the operator of the Slovak section of the Druzhba pipeline, Transpetrol’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Martin Ruzhynsky.
According to the Ukrainian operator, the parties summarized the results of cooperation in 2023 and discussed plans for organizing transportation work for the next year.
“The results of the year demonstrate well-coordinated cooperation with our European partners. We want to maintain this result in the future, so we discussed all issues related to oil transportation in 2024, in particular, the modes of pumping through the Druzhba pipeline,” Cependa said in a statement.
