WTI oil recovered to the price value of $71.8 per barrel and fully recovered the fall of the beginning of last week.
Expectations that the growth of global fuel demand will exceed the increase in supply after the OPEC+decision have fully returned to the market. Last Sunday, the alliance decided to gradually return 5.8 million barrels per day to the market by September 2022. Investors perceived the recovery of production at such a pace as too active, especially against the background of pressure on demand from the spread of new strains of coronavirus. Towards the end of the week, fears of a pandemic decreased. Investors tend to believe that over time, the consequences of each new round of lockdowns become weaker, and the demand for oil and petroleum products is recovering more actively.
ANZ Bank notes that oil reserves continue to decline, both in the United States and in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Commodity market analysts predict that oil prices will continue to grow in the second half of the year, as demand will outstrip supplies. In particular, the bank predicts a rise in Brent quotations in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $85 per barrel. Meanwhile, according to the oilfield services company Baker Hughes, the number of operating oil drilling rigs in the United States last week increased by seven, to 387 units. This indicates the growing interest of mining companies to increase supply against the background of high prices.
The forecast assumes a further increase in the cost of a barrel of WTI oil to the levels of 72, 72.3 and 72.5 dollars per barrel.