Crude oil prices closed higher on Tuesday (Feb. 1) with OPEC+ seeing pressure to increase production.
- WTI crude futures were up 5 cents, or 0.06%, at $88.20 a barrel.
- Brent crude futures fell 10 cents, or 0.11%, at $89.16 a barrel.
In January, oil prices rose more than 17% on expectations that the oil market could face shortages due to the conflict between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and the attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Western powers continue to press Russia, with various mainstream media making the issue worse than it is at the moment. This was also confirmed by the Ukrainian president that the situation is not critical at the moment and the issue is made worse by the media than it is. It almost seems that the Western powers need the conflict more than the involved Russia and Ukraine. Wars have always served as a cover for their own domestic problems.
The market is watching today’s OPEC+ meeting to discuss production policy for March.
OPEC+ is still expected to stick to its original agreement to increase oil production by only 400,000 barrels per day, despite pressure from the United States and its allies for OPEC+ to increase production more.
OPEC+ is also feeling the pressure to increase oil production at the moment when looking at oil prices. Since the prices will most likely soon rise above $90 per barrel, this could be a reason to increase production. OPEC+ will probably have little interest in too high oil prices, as consumers tend to consume less oil or switch to other alternatives.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on the EIA’s weekly oil inventory report today, while analysts are forecasting a 1.1 million barrel increase in U.S. crude inventories for the week ending January 28. The API weekly oil inventory report showed an unexpected decrease in inventory of 1.645 million barrels.
The Spot Market is Open
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
| Energy Updated at | USD Price | Change | %Change |
| Crude Oil 11.00 | 88.38 | +0.18 | 0.20% |