The black liquid has started the new week on a bullish note, with the global benchmark, the Brent, pushing above $120 a barrel after Saudi Arabia hiked prices for its crude sales in July, signalling tight supply even after OPEC+ agreed to accelerate output increases over the next two months.
Brent crude is up 0.80%, currently trading at $120.63 a barrel, after touching an intraday high of $121.95, extending a 1.8% gain from Friday. The U.S. benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures is also up 0.8%, currently trading $119.80 a barrel after earlier hitting a three-month high of $120.99. It gained 1.7% on Friday.
Saudi Arabia raised the official selling price (OSP) for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia to a $6.50 premium versus the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmarks, from a $4.40 premium in June, state oil producer Aramco said on Sunday.
What you should know
- Commonwealth Bank analyst Vivek Dhar explained in a note that, “While that increase is sorely needed, it falls short of demand growth expectations, especially with the EU’s partial ban on Russian oil imports also factored in.”
Separately, Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol could begin shipping Venezuelan oil to Europe as soon as next month to make up for Russian crude, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters, resuming oil-for-debt swaps halted two years ago when Washington stepped up sanctions on Venezuela. However, the volume that the companies will receive is not expected to be large, the people said.
SOURCE: nairametrics.com