2023-10-19 20:00:00
Brent ended with an increase of 0.96% to $92.38 and WTI ended with a gain of 1.18% to $89.37.
Oil prices resumed their rise on Thursday, with the market paying little attention to a possible increase in Venezuelan exports, which did not weigh heavily in the face of fears of a conflagration in the Middle East.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in December increased by 0.96%, to close at $92.38.
A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), due in November, gained 1.18%, to $89.37.
Black gold prices initially fell in response to the announcement on Wednesday of the reduction of certain American sanctions hitting Venezuela.
Washington notably decided to reauthorize purchases of Venezuelan oil for a period of six months.
This decision follows an agreement, signed Tuesday, between the government of President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition, on the holding of a presidential election in the second half of 2024.
But several analysts said the scope of the oil-related measure was still uncertain.
“If everything goes into a tailspin in the Middle East, it is not the little mud that Venezuela will succeed in extracting from its decrepit infrastructure that will compensate for a possible disruption of supplies from the Gulf,” commented Stephen Schork, of Schork Group.
The analyst refers to the quality, considered low, of Venezuelan oil, heavy and with a high sulfur content.
“The relief that Venezuelan oil might offer the market should be minimal,” added Edward Moya of Oanda in a note.
The operators therefore only briefly looked away from the Middle East, where the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army appears imminent.
“You see Gaza from afar, but soon, you will see it from the inside,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers stationed at the border on Thursday.
The market still fears an extension of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, with possible involvement by Iran.
On the border with Lebanon, there are daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas. Washington and London on Thursday called on their nationals to leave Lebanon.
“To be honest, I don’t understand why prices are not much higher, knowing that the potential for a widening of the conflict has not been this high since 1973 and the Yom Kippur War,” says Stephen Schork.
If the exit from the Strait of Hormuz, the only crossing point for several major crude producers, is disrupted, “we might return to the highs of last year ($139.13 for Brent in March 2022) and it is possible that we test the records (147.50 in 2008), around 150 dollars.”
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