The price of Texas Intermediate Oil (WTI) opened this Friday with a decrease of 1.26% and stood at 93.15 dollars a barrel, taking a break after yesterday’s rise.
At 09:02 local time in New York (13:02 GMT), WTI futures contracts for delivery in September were down 1.19 dollars from the close of the previous session, in which they appreciated 2.6%.
US benchmark oil starts the session lower but is expected to end the week with gains of around 5% on lower recession concerns among investors.
According to analysts, the market today is evaluating the opposite prospects for crude oil demand for this year from OPEC, negative, and the International Energy Agency (IEA), positive.
This Thursday, OPEC estimated that crude oil consumption will grow in 2023, but for this year it revised its forecasts slightly downwards due to geopolitical risks and the pandemic in the second half.
Meanwhile, the IEA has raised its demand growth forecasts for the coming months, which it attributes to a greater use of crude oil compared to gas due to the sharp rise in prices of the latter source.
“There has been a lot to digest this week, with the nuclear negotiations with Iran underway, the rise in US inventories, also the rise in production, the Russian Druzhba pipeline saga and various forecasts,” the analyst said. Craig Erlam, of the firm Oanda.