On Tuesday afternoon, global oil prices accelerated growth to more than 2% - investors remain optimistic about the efforts of OPEC+ countries to reduce production while hoping for an improvement in the situation with the coronavirus, according to trading data.
Report informs, citing Prime, that the price of April futures for the North Sea oil mixture of the Brent brand rose by 2.29% to $57.62 per barrel, the cost of March futures for WTI gained 2.33%, reaching $54.8 per barrel. In the morning, oil rose by 1%.
Traders remain optimistic about the oil market. Expectations for the OPEC+ agreements favorably affect the supply outlook, and some easing of tensions with coronavirus changes demand forecasts.
In January, the OPEC+ countries agreed on new agreements on production in February and March. Saudi Arabia has pledged to reduce production by 1 million barrels per day in these months. Some other OPEC+ countries have also agreed to such measures and taking into account their participation, the total reduction is 1.425 million barrels of oil per day.
The situation around the COVID-19 pandemic also remains in the spotlight of the markets. Bidders monitor vaccination programs in different countries and the situation in the United States. In early February, the dynamics of infection and mortality in the country significantly improved compared to the beginning-middle of January.
On Wednesday, traders also expect statistics on commercial oil reserves in the United States for the past week. Analysts predict an increase in stocks by about 400,000 barrels in the week to January 29.
For the previous week, the decline was 9.9 million barrels. As a result, stocks fell to their lowest since the end of March 2020.