Daily Times

Global crude benchmarks Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) have narrowed their spread and rallied to three and seven-year highs, respectively, before falling on Tuesday after US President Joe Biden stepped into the fray.

At 14:00 GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed 1.66 percent to reach $75.88 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $74.74, down 0.56 percent.

The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $75.18 a barrel with 0.45 percent increase, Arab Light was available at $76.55 a barrel with 1.38 percent increase, while the price of Russian Sokol reached $76.40 after gaining 1.49 percent.

Earlier in the day, Brent rose 0.7 per cent to $77.77 a barrel at 13:40 GMT, the highest since October 2018. West Texas Intermediate, the main North American gauge, was up more than 2.32 percent at $76.90 a barrel, the highest level since November 2014. Saudi Aramco has raised the August official selling prices of crude to Asia, as the oil market tightens, sparking fears of another oil price war and prompting the Biden administration to call on OPEC to settle its internal differences and start bringing more oil to markets, citing administration insiders. Aramco has set the August OSP for Arab light at $2.70/barrel, up 80 cents per barrel from July’s price, while the OSP to the United States was set up 20 cents a barrel for August.

Rising oil prices and pain at American gas pumps have prompted Biden to step into the fray. This is the latest development in a drama that actually began last year but only escalated last week, when the United Arab Emirates refused to vote for an extension of the OPEC+ production control deal without an adjustment of its baseline, noting that the baselines for the current agreement are from November 2018 which is simply, too far back in the past.