The price of oil reached the lowest figure in the last 3 weeks

According to the report of Fars International Economic Group, quoted by Reuters, due to the strengthening of the dollar and the expectation of an increase in interest rates in the United States, which neutralized the effect of the decrease in American oil reserves on the market, the price of oil in today’s trading fell to the lowest figure in the last 3 weeks. Found.

A barrel of Brent oil was sold at $81.58, down one dollar and 54 cents, and a barrel of US crude oil was traded at $77.71, down one dollar and 45 cents.

Both oil benchmarks lost 2 percent yesterday to their lowest prices since late March, just before OPEC+’s surprise decision to further cut production; However, all the price increase that occurred after this decision has not disappeared yet.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC and its allies such as Russia, known as OPEC+, announced that they intend to further reduce their production by 1.6 million barrels per day. This new plan will bring the total production reduction of OPEC+ to 3.66 million barrels per day. per day, which includes the group’s decision to cut production by 2 million barrels per day in October. This figure is approximately equivalent to 3.7% of the demand in the world.

OPEC+, on October 5, 2022, in the 33rd meeting of the ministers of this group, decided to reduce their production by 2 million barrels per day and maintain this process until the end of 2023, which they have now increased.

The announcement of this decision raised the price of both oil indices by more than 6% at that time.

The dollar index is up 0.3 percent this week and is on track to record its strongest week since late February. The higher the value of the dollar, the higher the price of oil for owners of non-dollar currencies.

According to the Federal Reserve, US factory activity has changed little in recent weeks.

Federal Reserve policymakers have signaled that they are nearing the end of the most drastic rate hike in the past 40 years.

Markets are giving an 86% chance that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the last time by 0.25% at the May policy meeting.

On the other hand, the continued double-digit inflation in England has caused the expectation for an interest rate increase by the central bank of this country to be strengthened.

Britain now has the highest rate of consumer price inflation (CPI) in Western Europe, as inflation fell less than expected in March to 10.1% from 10.4% in February.

At the same time, according to the report of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), with the increase in the activity of refineries and the increase in exports, the country’s crude oil reserves have decreased by 4.6 million barrels; Meanwhile, gasoline stocks have unexpectedly increased due to weak demand.

According to this report, the decrease in crude oil reserves has been much more severe than the estimates of analysts and the American Petroleum Institute.

In terms of supply, oil loading from Russia’s western ports in April is likely to increase to the highest level since 2019, according to trade and shipping sources.

Also, Pakistan’s oil minister announced that his country has placed its first order to buy Russian crude oil at a discount based on the new contract. This contract includes 100,000 barrels of oil per day.