Brent ends up 3.52% to $ 83.72 and WTI ends over $ 81 thanks to a surge of almost 4%.
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, catapulted by a weakening dollar as well as forecasts from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), which sharply raised its price expectations for 2022.
A barrel of North Sea Brent for March delivery, the most traded contract in London, jumped 3.52% to close at $ 83.72.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery rose 3.82% to register at $ 81.22.
In session, Brent and WTI climbed to their highest level since November 10 and November 16, respectively.
All financial markets have been guided by the words of the President of the American Central Bank (Fed), Jerome Powell, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee.
While he indicated that the Fed was ready to raise rates to slow inflation, the tone of his intervention was deemed less drastic than that of the minutes of the last meeting of the monetary policy committee, released last week.
It did not take more to undermine the dollar, which fell to its lowest for almost two months once morest the euro. “It sparked reactions in other asset classes,” said Matt Smith, head of oil analysis for commodity data provider Kpler.
Since oil, like most commodities, is denominated in dollars, a decline in the greenback might push the barrel upward.
Prices were also spurred on by a report from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), which raised its average Brent price estimate by nearly $ 5 ($ 4.90) ($ 74.95). ) and WTI (71.32) for 2022 compared to its last publication in early December.
Operators “continue to see the big picture, with a market that will be driven by demand,” which continues to grow, having been affected only marginally by the wave of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, insisted Matt Smith.
Despite the stabilization in Kazakhstan and the restoration of part of the capacities lost in Libya in recent days, the countries party to the OPEC + agreement remain significantly below the level of production to which they have committed.
The fact that the values of the oil sector are highly sought following by investors on the Stock Exchange testifies “to the confidence in the fact that we are in a tense market”, notes Matt Smith.
On Wednesday, the market will scrutinize the level of US crude and gasoline inventories, published by the EIA. Analysts are forecasting a drop of 1.85 million barrels, according to the median consensus established by the Bloomberg agency. This would be the seventh consecutive decline in as many weeks.
“WTI should test last year’s highs if reserves continue to decline,” Oanda analyst Edward Moya said in a note.
