ISLAMABAD
Crude oil prices increased for the second straight session on Thursday after Opec stuck to its oil demand projections and raised its forecast for economic growth this year.
As of 1125 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $0.57 (+0.68 percent) to reach $84.60 a barrel. Similarly, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went up by $0.67 (+0.84 percent) to $80.39 a barrel.
On the other hand, the price of Arab Light increased by $1.30 (+1.55 percent) to reach $85.21 a barrel. Similarly, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $1.27 (+1.67 percent) to $77.54. Following suit, the price for Opec Basket inched up to $82.61 a barrel with an uptick of $0.35 (+0.43 percent).
Both global benchmarks ended last week lower on bearish Chinese data that signalled weaker demand in the world’s leading crude importer. Brent ended last week lower by 1.78 percent. Brent fell to $82.08 a barrel from $83.57 a barrel, showing a decrease of $1.49 on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. WTI also closed last week lower to $78.01 from $79.97 a barrel, registering a weekly decrease of $1.96 (-2.45 percent).
The Opec raised its estimate for global economic growth this year by 0.1 per cent to 2.8 per cent, citing “robust” economic expansion in the second half of 2023. The group expects oil demand growth of 2.2 million barrels per day for this year, much higher than the International Energy Agency’s estimate of an increase of 1.2 million bpd.
The IEA, which is due to release its monthly oil market report later this week, has previously said that oil demand would come under pressure this year from a consumption slowdown in China, the world’s largest energy importer.
Opec also said that the extension of voluntary cuts by the Opec alliance, which includes Russia, would lead to non-Opec crude production growing by 1.1 million bpd this year, down 120,000 bpd from the group’s previous projection.
This month, several members of the Opec group of oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, announced they were extending voluntary supply curbs of 2.2 million bpd into the second quarter to support market balance and stability.
