Oil consolidates awaiting news on demand

oil prices ended this Wednesday, January 25 close to equilibriumoscillating between the positive surprise of the weekly report on reserves Americans and questions about the health of the lawsuit.

(See: Minenergía’s ‘happy’ accounts of gas reserves).

The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in March closed close to equilibrium (-0.01%), at 86.12 dollars, the same as the barrel of west texas US Intermediate (WTI), also for March delivery (+0.02%), at $80.15.

According to Price Futures Group’s Phil Flynn, after an unconvincing start, the market was nonetheless supported by the Information Administration figures Energy Agency of the United States (EIA), which reported an increase of 500,000 barrels of crude oil reserves last week, while analysts expected them to triple (1.5 million).

(See: The price of Brent oil fell and was located below 87 dollars).

This positive surprise is partly due to the 14% drop in imports in one week, combined with the increase in crude oil exports (+21.5%).

(See: Brent oil continues to rise and is close to 90 dollars per barrel).

The movement is also explained by the increase in the use of refineries, which reached 86.1%, compared to 85.3% of the previous week.

(See: Energy, such as oil and coal, present a fall in prices).

In particular, there is concern about the demand for refined products, which has decreased by 10.9% compared to the same period of the year former.

AFP