NEW YORK – Oil prices rose on Thursday, maintaining a bullish trajectory that has been supported by expectations that supply will tighten further, even after OPEC + producers maintained their moderate output increases. .
* Global supply shortages and geopolitical tension have pushed oil prices up about 15% so far this year. Demand continues to rise and the omicron variant of the coronavirus has only temporarily made a dent in consumption in the main economies.
* The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, led by Russia and known as OPEC +, agreed to maintain a monthly production increase of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), despite pressure from consumers to increase supply further. quickly.
* “With OPEC + undoing its production cuts, the group’s spare capacity will fall to low levels in 2022. Hopefully next year there will be no mobility restrictions, which means that, with the world still expanding, oil demand will also increase next year,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a UBS commodity analyst .
* Brent crude was up 24 cents, or 0.3%, at $89.71 a barrel by 1735 GMT . US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 32 cents, or 0.4%, at $88.58 a barrel.
* Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect Brent to exceed $100 a barrel in the third quarter. The brokerage firm had anticipated that OPEC + might consider accelerating the reduction of its production.
* Several OPEC members are scrambling to pump more even though prices are at seven-year highs.
* Iraq pumped 4.16 million bpd of oil in January, below its 4.28 million bpd limit under the OPEC + deal, data from state trader SOMO seen by Reuters showed.