Oil is heading for its third weekly rise

Goldman Sachs expects Brent to reach $80 a barrel

Car traffic is returning to levels in America and most of Europe.

Getty

Oil prices fell yesterday, but are heading towards a rise for the third week, thanks to expectations of a recovery in fuel demand in Europe, China and the United States, as increased vaccination rates lead to easing restrictions imposed due to the “Covid 19” pandemic.

The American investment bank “Goldman Sachs” expected that “Brent crude” prices will reach $ 80 a barrel this summer, betting that the recent rise in the oil market will continue, as the distribution of pandemic vaccines enhances global economic activity and demand for crude.

Brent crude futures fell four cents, or 0.06%, to $72.48, after closing at their highest level since May 2019 on Thursday.

In turn, US West Texas Intermediate crude futures also fell four cents, or 0.06%, to $70.25 a barrel, after rising 0.5% the day before yesterday, Thursday, to close at its highest level since October 2018.

“Brent” is heading towards a weekly increase of 0.8%, while “West Texas Intermediate” is heading to achieve a gain of 0.9%.

Reuters, citing sources, said that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, will supply all crude quantities for loading in July to dealers in Asia.

In turn, gasoline stocks in the United States, the largest consumer of oil in the world, increased by seven million barrels in the week ending on the fourth of this June, and distillate stocks rose by 4.4 million barrels, much more than analysts' expectations, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

The unexpected increase prompted a wave of profit-taking, as prices rose to a two-and-a-half year high, said Margaret Yang, an expert at the Daily Fix.

For their part, analysts with "ANZ" considered that the data that reveals that the movement of cars on the roads returns to levels before "Covid-19" in North America and most of Europe;

encouraging.

They added, "Even the jet fuel market is showing signs of improvement, while flights in Europe have risen 17% over the past two weeks."

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reinforced the demand strength view, and stuck to its expectation that demand in 2021 will rise by 5.95 million barrels per day, an increase of 6.6% compared to a year ago.

In its latest monthly report, OPEC expected that the recovery of global economic growth, and consequently the demand for oil, would gain momentum in the second half of this year.

• The jet fuel market is showing an improvement, and flights in Europe are up 17%.

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