The U.S. oil reference price rose above $ 60 a barrel on Monday morning, the highest price since January last year, when an arctic winter blast swept through Texas, raising concerns about potential production disruptions. of shale in the main oil and logistics producing state on the US Gulf Coast.
As of 9:26 am ET, on Monday, the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude rose 1.38 percent to $ 60.26. Brent Crude prices also rose and broke above $ 63 a barrel to $ 63.11, up 1.12% on the day.
Texas winter storms have raised concerns about shale supply disruptions, analysts say.
The price of oil on Monday “resumed its tightening rally led by supply, now with the added momentum of an arctic explosion in the U.S. reaching Texas to potentially disrupt flows from Permian, America’s largest shale area,” Saxo Bank analysts said Monday morning.
WTI prices rose 16 percent in February alone, after the two benchmarks ended their longest streak of consecutive daily gains in two years last week.
The hike resumed on Friday and continued on Monday amid expectations of a further decline in global stocks and hopes that the US would still approve the stimulus package.
In recent weeks, oil prices have also been supported by rising vaccination rates, as well as falling cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations in the world’s largest economy, the United States.
Current price levels, if they continue until early March, could lead some OPEC + producers to demand more aggressive easing of cuts when the group meets to discuss oil production from April 1, said ING strategists Warren Patterson and Wenyu Yao on Monday.
“At current price levels, several producers would be expected to push for more flexibility, and this is the stance we would expect to see from Russia,” said the strategists, adding that “However, OPEC + will be eager to avoid a repeat last March meeting, when the previous agreement collapsed. “
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More top readings from Oilprice.com: