Oil crosses 50 dollars for the first time since March
11-12-2020
On Thursday, oil prices jumped in trading to break the barrier of $50 a barrel for the first time since last March to offset hopes for a faster recovery in demand after the promising results of the (Covid 19) vaccine. Although US crude stocks last night showed that there is still an abundance in supply, prices have increased with the start of Britain’s vaccination campaign this week and the US will probably start by the end of this week, while Canada agreed last night to start distributing the vaccine. Brent rose and 1.27 or 2.6 percent to $50.13 a barrel rising for the third consecutive day while US west Taxes Intermediate crude rose $1.15 or 2.5 percent at $46.47 a barrel. The rise comes even after the latest weekly report on US oil inventories showed a tremendous rise by 15.2 million barrels in crude inventories while expectations came for a decline of 1.4 million barrels. Oil prices were supported by some tension after two wells in a small oil field in northern Iraq caught fire and the country’s government described it as a terrorist attack although production was not affected. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC and non-OPEC Russia and agreed last week to reduce oil production cuts slightly starting next January by 500 thousand barrels per day.
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