Around 5:50 p.m., Brent fell 2.39% to 98.18 dollars and WTI fell 2.50% to 92.06 dollars.
Oil prices accelerated their losses on Wednesday despite the decision of the oil-exporting countries of OPEC + to increase their production, but in an almost paltry way, and following the sharp increase in commercial reserves of crude oil in the United States.
Around 3:50 p.m. GMT (5:50 p.m. CET), a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in October lost 2.39% to 98.18 dollars.
The barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in September fell 2.50%, to 92.06 dollars.
The OPEC + countries (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies) decided “to increase production (…) by 100,000 barrels per day for the month of September” during a meeting by videoconference in Vienna, the alliance said in a statement on Wednesday.
Prices immediately rose, with the two crude benchmarks gaining around 2%, before falling back into negative territory.
“The smallest increase in the history of OPEC+ will do little to help the ongoing global energy crisis,” quipped Edward Moya, an analyst for Oanda interviewed by AFP.
Especially since an “increase in quotas is not synonymous with an increase in production”, points out Edward Gardner, of Capital Economics, the alliance failing regularly to meet its set production objectives.
OPEC+ has indeed only returned to its pre-Covid-19 pandemic production levels on paper.
“It’s likely that the Biden administration feels disappointed, given that its appeals to Saudi Arabia have yielded few results,” Han Tan, an analyst at Exinity, told AFP.
Far from his remarks on a “pariah” state following the assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Joe Biden had visited Saudi Arabia for the first time as President of the United States in mid-July, hoping to convince Riyadh to open its crude floodgates.
This almost derisory increase in the group’s production can be seen as “a symbolic gesture” towards the American president, believes Stephen Brennnock, analyst at PVM Energy.
But analysts generally say it will be difficult for Joe Biden to present the decision as a victory.
Meanwhile, U.S. commercial crude oil reserves rose sharply last week, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), immediately accentuating the losses of both crude benchmarks. .
Prices also remain weighted “as fears of a recession grow in Europe and the United States, and China’s zero-Covid policy continues to affect activity, creating a scenario that leads to lower demand for crude,” recalls Ricardo Evangelista, analyst at ActivTrades.
