Thursday, March 28

Oil closes the year with the highest annual gains since 2016


Brent is on track to end the year nearly 52% higher, its biggest gain since 2016, while WTI is heading for a 56.5% gain, the highest return for the benchmark contract since 2009, when prices soared more than 70%.

Both contracts hit their 2021 high in October, with Brent at $ 86.70 a barrel, the highest since 2018, and WTI at $ 85.41, its highest since 2014. Prices are expected to continue rising next year. year, as demand for jet fuel catches up.

“We have had delta and omicron and all kinds of closures and travel restrictions, but the demand for oil has remained relatively strong. This can be attributed to the effects of stimuli that support demand and supply restrictions,” he said Craig James, chief economist at Australian brokerage CommSec.

After climbing for several days in a row, Crude prices fell on Friday, at a time when COVID-19 cases have soared and hit new pandemic highs around the world, from Australia to the United States, fueled by the highly communicable omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Production disruptions in Nigeria and Ecuador weighed on prices.

Now that oil is hovering around $ 80, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and its allies, a group known as OPEC +, are likely to stick with their plan to add 400,000 barrels a day of supply in February when they meet on January 4. , according to four sources.



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