Daily Times

Crude oil prices surged up to 4.13 percent last week after going down 2.17pc in the preceding week. According to details, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached 73.79 from $70.86, up by 4.13 percent during the week. The low for the week reached $66.44 on Wednesday while the high for the week was on Thursday at $73.79.

Similarly, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, increased 3.55 percent during the week to reach $76.14 from $73.52 a barrel. The low for the week reached $69.60 on Monday while the high for the week was on Thursday near $76.88. During the week, price for Opec Basket decreased by 0.58 percent to $74.23 from $74.66, Arab Light price increased 2.40 percent to $77.54 from $75.72, while the price of Russian Sokol went up by 2.58 percent to $77.87 from $75.91.

Oil prices hit fresh monthly highs on Thursday last before backing off slightly. The rally over the last week was spurred by positive pandemic developments, including studies showing Omicron, the new variant of the coronavirus, will be less severe. The former development, coupled with a slowdown in the acceleration of the transmission rate in parts of Europe including the UK, has taken the pressure off of authorities to implement tougher economic restrictions.

The other factor that helped push crude oil prices higher last week was that the US inventories were revealed to have seen much larger than expected stock drawdowns in the preceding week. Moreover, oil and gas rigs rose to their highest level since April 2020, a leading indicator of increased US output in the coming months.

On the other hand, as 2021 comes to a close, energy companies and organisations begin looking at 2022 and start making plans based on supply and demand expectations. Three organisations that provide market information are the International Energy Agency (IEA), based in Paris and representing countries that are net importers of crude oil; the Energy Information Administration (EIA), based in Washington and the data-collection and forecasting arm of the Department of Energy; and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is a cartel of 13 countries that produce and export crude oil around the world.