The price of Brent increased to the level of $84.30 per barrel, continuing to follow the dynamics of yesterday. The main driver of growth is optimism about fuel demand in China. Yesterday, Brent quotes were located at $79.30, and today they managed to update the ten–day maximum. North American WTI oil shows similar dynamics: during the day, the value of the asset increased from $74.40 to $78.90 per barrel. The prices were supported by the fact that Chinese companies are actively buying oil before the long holidays on the occasion of the Chinese New Year according to the Lunar calendar, which this year will fall at the end of January. In addition, concerns about the price ceiling for Russian oil products, as well as the weakening of the US dollar, contribute to the growth. On the other hand, oil may come under pressure after the release of statistics on energy reserves in the United States. According to yesterday's report from the Ministry of Energy of the country, commercial oil reserves increased by 18.96 million barrels last week. Which was the third-largest weekly increase in oil reserves in the entire history of observations since 1982. Analysts predicted a decrease in inventories by 2 million barrels. Experts note that such a sharp increase in reserves is probably due to a temporary reduction in production by American refineries at the end of last month due to frosts.
