On Tuesday, February 2, world oil prices renewed their annual high.

In the course of trading, raw materials of the Brent benchmark mark on the ICE exchange in London rose in price by more than 3% - to $ 58.05 per barrel.

The last time a similar value could be observed back in February 2020.

At the same time, quotations of the American WTI grade also rose by 3% and for the first time since January 2020 reached $ 55.26 per barrel.

Experts interviewed by RT primarily associate the observed price dynamics with the beginning of the implementation of the new terms of the OPEC + deal.

According to the agreements reached earlier, from February to March 2021, the countries participating in the agreement are planning to reduce oil production by 1.4 million barrels per day.

Recall that within the framework of the OPEC + partnership, the states - oil exporters deliberately limit the production of energy raw materials and thereby try to achieve a balance between supply and demand in the global hydrocarbon market.

Such a policy of the alliance members should keep oil prices from new collapses, experts say.

“It should be noted that investors, in principle, highly appreciate the effect of the OPEC + agreement.

Thanks to the deal, we have actually managed to balance supply and demand in the oil market, as well as stabilize prices.

In addition, the high discipline of fulfilling the terms of the contract adds to the positive, "Anna Zaitseva, an analyst at Finam Group, told RT.

According to the latest estimates, from May to December 2020, the transaction execution rate was 99% of the plan.

During this time, the countries participating in the agreement were able to remove more than 2 billion barrels of oil from the market, writes TASS with reference to the materials of the OPEC + technical committee.

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In addition to the execution of the OPEC + deal, the players in the commodity market are currently monitoring the dynamics of oil reserves in the United States, Anna Zaitseva noted.

As the expert explained, heavy snowfalls in the northeastern United States led to interruptions in power supply and transport.

Against this background, the demand for fuel may temporarily increase in the country, and oil reserves will decrease.

According to Zaitseva, in this case, the world supply of energy resources will further decrease.

As the analyst emphasized, such investor expectations support oil prices.

At the same time, the situation with the coronavirus pandemic continues to exert some pressure on the cost of raw materials, the specialist notes.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of detected cases of COVID-19 in the world continues to grow and today exceeds 103.6 million.

“In this regard, there is a possibility that the global economic recovery will be slower than expected.

This may entail a downward revaluation of the value of risky assets, including oil, ”suggested Anna Zaitseva.

Meanwhile, the mass vaccination of the population against coronavirus in a number of countries should play in favor of the rise in oil prices.

Vitaly Gromadin, senior analyst at BCS World of Investments, expressed this point of view in an interview with RT.

“The viral situation in the world is still difficult, but the vaccination process is quite successful.

Therefore, any current negative news, such as limiting the mobility of citizens during the Chinese New Year, is still somewhat ignored by the market.

Against this background, the forecasts of a number of investment banks about the possible achievement of prices at the level of $ 60-70 by the middle of the year seem to be more and more realistic, "Gromadin emphasized.

Note that the observed growth in oil prices had a positive effect on the dynamics of the Russian currency.

On Tuesday, the exchange rates of the dollar and euro on the Moscow Exchange fell by 1% - to 75.31 and 90.73 rubles, respectively.

The official exchange rate of the Central Bank on February 3 was set at 75.91 rubles per dollar and 91.63 rubles per euro.

As Natalya Milchakova, deputy head of the Alpari information and analytical center, told RT, in the near future the dollar exchange rate will continue to fluctuate in the range of 75-76.5 rubles, and the euro exchange rate - around 90-92 rubles.

At the same time, according to Vitaly Gromadin, as oil prices continue to grow, the Russian currency has a chance to further strengthen.

Thus, the analyst does not exclude a decline in the dollar rate in the range of 72-74 rubles.