Oil price opens the week at $73 per barrel

The price of the international crude benchmark, Brent crude, climbed to $73.17 per barrel on Monday, June 14.

This is the highest level it has reached since October 2018.

One of the major drivers of this is the rollout of coronavirus vaccines which boosted demand expectations for Europe and the United States.

Also, doubts over the return of Iranian crude supply supported the growth.

U.S oil, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also improved 32 cents or 0.45 per cent to trade at $71.23 per barrel.

Goldman Sachs is expecting oil prices to climb to $80 per barrel in the fourth quarter of this year.

Even with a likely return of Iranian supplies, according to analysts at the bank, the oil price will continue to rise.

“The case for higher oil prices therefore remains intact given the large vaccine-driven increase in demand in the face of inelastic supply,” the bank said in a note dated Sunday.

Even “aggressively assuming” a restart of Iranian exports in July, Brent prices would still reach the $80 mark by the fourth quarter, it said.

SOURCE: ripplesnigeria.com