2024-01-22 10:58:07
Around 10:25 GMT (11:25 CET), the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, gained 0.11%, to $78.67.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in February, which is the last day of trading, gained 0.16% to $73.57.
Claiming to act in response to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, are carrying out attacks on commercial ships using the important Red Sea route, recalls Tamas Varga, analyst for PVM Energy.
The American army, which is increasing interventions to try to secure maritime traffic in the area, indicated on Sunday that it had declared dead two members of the US Navy who disappeared on January 11 off the Somali coast. These two “Navy Seals” (navy commandos, editor’s note) intervened as part of an operation to intercept Iranian weapons intended for the Houthi rebels.
Prices benefited more from “a cold snap in the United States than from this increased level of anxiety about a possible disruption of supplies from the Middle East”, however, adds Mr. Varga.
At the start of the session, prices were even moving downward as the restart of a major “oil field in Libya eclipses the risks linked to the Red Sea”, comments Helge André Martinsen, DNB analyst.
The National Oil Company (NOC) in Libya announced on Sunday the resumption of oil production at one of the country’s largest oil fields, after a two-week shutdown following protests at the site. .
The Libyan national oil company announced the resumption of production at the al-Charara field, shut down earlier this month, as well as the lifting of the “state of force majeure” on the site.
This “state of force majeure” is invoked in exceptional circumstances and allowed an exemption from the liability of the NOC in the event of non-compliance with oil delivery contracts.
Located approximately 900 km south of Tripoli, al-Charara normally produces 315,000 barrels per day, out of a national production of more than 1.2 million barrels per day (compared to 1.5 to 1.6 million before the Revolution of 2011).
However, the prospect of more barrels available on the market helps to slow down the rise in oil prices.
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