Oil prices fell on Friday morning for the second day in a row as major forecasts warned that the recovery in global demand is still fragile and that the US dollar has strengthened.
At 9:51 a.m. ET on Friday, WTI Crude fell 0.07% to $ 58.24, and Brent Crude prices traded slightly 0.23% to $ 61.33.
On Thursday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the rebalancing of the oil market appears fragile in the first quarter of 2021, although it remains optimistic that global oil stocks will decline rapidly in the second half of the year. ‘this year as demand increases. This year, global oil demand is expected to grow 5.4 million barrels per day (bpd) compared to 2020, according to the agency in its strict February oil market report. That’s 100,000 bpd lower than the January report forecast, when the IEA predicted demand would increase 5.5 million bpd by 2021.
OPEC also warned on a weaker start to this year on Thursday and expects oil demand to rise 5.8 million barrels per day in 2021, down by about 100,000 barrels per day from the month’s projection past due to blockages in major developed economies in the first half of this year.
Oil prices ended their nine-day rise on Thursday, the longest streak of consecutive daily gains in two years as the market digested first-quarter weak demand warnings and as a growing number of analysts said technical indicators point to overbought conditions. Related: the most fragile oil price rally in history
Torbjörn Törnqvist, chief executive of one of the world’s leading independent oil traders, Gunvor, told Bloomberg last week that oil prices are unlikely to rise above $ 60 a barrel, considering that this level of prices would encourage a large supply of oil, including from the United States.
Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, doesn’t rule out $ 100 worth of oil next year, but also believes that in terms of fast fundamentals, the market has advanced on its own, “because demand is still relatively weak “.
The current strength of the oil price depends “on the continued restraint of the OPEC + producer group backed by demand” on paper “from speculators,” Saxo Bank said on Friday.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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