Oil prices rose at a 7-year peak at the beginning of weekly trading today, Monday, amid an improvement in demand for crude globally, in conjunction with the market recovery from the Corona pandemic and its variants.
And prices were also supported by the shift of many economies in Europe to crude oil instead of scarce natural gas, amid an energy shortage crisis in many European markets, in addition to China.
At 07:18 (Greenwich Mean Time), Brent crude futures prices for December delivery rose 1.65% to $83.71 a barrel.
Also, the prices of US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for November delivery rose by 2% to reach $80.92 a barrel.
And US crude had increased 4.6% until last Friday.
Europe is facing a shortage of natural gas needed to generate electricity, amid the inability of supplies coming from Russia and Norway to meet the needs of the old continent.
The International Energy Agency and Goldman Sachs expect the continued rise in global crude prices to the level of $85 for Brent oil during the current fourth quarter, due to increased demand from major markets.
In contrast, Carolyn Payne, chief commodity economist at Capital Economics, said in a note, “We believe crude oil prices will struggle to achieve a much higher increase this quarter, and we continue to expect them to decline gradually next year.”