Oil prices fell after two weeks of growth

Published text: 07/09/2018 15:52

On world markets, oil prices fell last week after two weeks of growth, due to heightened trade tensions in the world and increased production in Saudi Arabia .

On the London market, per barrel prices fell 2.9% last week to $ 77.15, while barrels fell 0.4% to $ 73.80 in the US market.

Saudi Arabia reported the Organization of Countries (OPEC) to increase its production of nearly 500,000 barrels per day in June, but also to reduce the price of oil sales in Europe and in other regions. According to Tamas Varga of PVM, Saudi Arabia and Russia have pledged to increase their production,

OPEC has kept production at a level less than a year and a half to support rising prices oil, but due to production interruptions in Venezuela, Angola and Libya, the organization has recently decided to increase production to offset the market deficit.

As much as possible, the decline in Iranian oil exports due to the announcement of US sanctions. Washington has waived an international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program and announced a new sanction in Tehran, asking all countries in the world to stop buying Iranian oil since November.

These announcements have supported oil prices in recent weeks. an offer so close. Donald Trump, the local president, accused OPEC of raising oil prices last week and asked the organization to cut the price of oil

"The monopoly of OPEC must remember that oil prices are high, and they do almost nothing to help.They raise prices while the United States defends a lot of OPEC members for very little money. must be a two-way street.You can reduce prices immediately, "writes Trump on Twitter

The rise in gasoline prices in the United States could, in fact, create political problems for Trump before congressional elections in November

Analysts speculate "If Trump continues to think that OPEC is not doing enough, we do not exclude US sales of some of the reserves strategic or perhaps even restrictions on petroleum exports "," notes the ING Bank analyst in a note. of a trade war

Neglect of oil prices was also affected by trade tensions between the United States and China last week after the entry into force of US tariffs on Chinese imports of $ 34 billion Friday, and Beijing came back with the same measure. Analysts could hurt these economies, but also global trade and the global economy.

"There is an intensification of the trade dispute between the United States and China, because no party is ready to give up," says Abhishek Kumar of Interfax Energy. The drop in oil prices last week was also prompted by data on the unexpected growth of US inventories of 1.3 million barrels, despite a seasonal increase in consumption.

And US production could still increase, as suggested Friday Baker Hughes data published that last week the number of oilseed plants in the United States increased after two weeks of decline.

The number of plants increased for five of them, to a total of 863 plants, the highest level from March 2015. At the same time last year, there were 763 active factories, indicating that US producers are lower than higher prices.

And the price of barrels on the US market in the first half of this year averaged $ 65.71. Last year, the average price was $ 50.85 and in 2016 only $ 43.47