ABU DHABI: Oil held near a four-month high after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast a supply deficit through 2024, changing its earlier projection of a surplus, on the premise OPEC+ maintains production cuts.
Brent traded above US$85 a barrel after advancing 4.3 percent over the previous two sessions. West Texas Intermediate was near US$81. The latest IEA view assumes that OPEC and its allies will retain their curbs for the rest of the year to ‘balance oil markets,’ it said in a monthly report on Thursday.
The global benchmark is up by around 4 percent this week, having also been supported by the first drop in US stockpiles since January and heightened geopolitical tensions.
Oil futures have now broken out of a narrow range they had been trading in this year, but there are still headwinds that may limit further gains. These include rising non-OPEC supply, China’s demand concerns and persistent US inflation that is pushing back expectations for interest rate cuts.
Source: Emirates News Agency