On world markets, oil prices fell by more than 3 percent last week, after two weeks of growth, because OPEC production is expected to increase at the end of the year, and traders are not sure that demand will increase significantly by then.
On the London market, the price of a barrel fell by 3.5 percent last week, to $71.89, while on the American market, the price of a barrel decreased by 5.2 percent, to $68.18.
The drop in prices is mainly due to the news that Saudi Arabia intends to abandon its target price of $100 a barrel and increase production in December in order to increase its market share, SEEbiz reports.
Riyadh has repeatedly denied that it is targeting a certain price, and sources in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) say that the plan to increase production does not represent a departure from the group’s official policy.
This summer, OPEC and its allies announced that they would increase production by 180,000 barrels per day from December.
Prices were also negatively affected by the news that the conflicting parties in Libya signed an agreement that resolved the dispute over the central bank and the control of oil revenues, which could mean that oil exports will normalize.
Because of that conflict, namely, Libyan exports fell to only 400,000 barrels per day in September, while before the conflict it was more than one million barrels per day.
As supply is expected to increase, oil prices did not rise even after news of new monetary and fiscal stimulus measures by the Chinese authorities, the biggest since the pandemic.
