Crude oil prices were all fired up at the fourth trading session of the week, as it continued an almost week-long bullish run, passing 13-month highs.
The arctic blast presently in play at Texas continues to distort oil production, with more than 20% of U.S. refining output and a million barrels of oil output closed down.
What you need to know: At press time, Brent crude futures rallied by 1.20% to trade at $65.11 a barrel, the highest since January 20, 2020. West Texas Intermediate futures surged by 0.92% to $61.70, its highest level since January 8, 2020.
Both major oil benchmarks remained firmly above the $60 mark, gaining more than 6% in the past four trading sessions.
READ: Oil prices post highest level in 13 months amid rising Middle East strain
Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at Axi, in a note to Nairametrics, spoke on market sentiments amid the bias that the Saudis plan to pump more oil hasn’t yet changed the bullish dynamics in play at the energy market.
“Even Saudi Arabia can’t stop the rally in crude oil prices after announcing its plans to ease supply cuts now that the market is back in balance. Crude oil sold off on the headline but was then drawn back higher by enormous open interest on the march 21 WTI 60 strike which expired Tuesday.
“I don’t think the markets were overly shocked about the Saudi rollback amid the roaring recovery in global demand, good news on the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, and the extremely healthy oil price.”
READ: Oil prices hit 11-month high, trading at $61 a barrel
Bottom line: From an oil trader’s perspective, the keen takeaway seems that OPEC+ is happy with crude prices at these levels, over the medium term.
