The price of oil, which is now mainly determined by the conflict in Yemen and Libya, in the coming months will strike the psychological mark of $ 70 per barrel, the experts say. But then it will go down, because there are no fundamental changes in the world market. The proposal still exceeds demand, and at a price of $ 67-70 per barrel, the US shale projects will return in the system.
The oil prices, after a steady growth, began to falter. A barrel of US WTI crude oil on Tuesday morning was worth $ 58.84 (-0.15%). During the session on Monday, 4 May, the WTI futures also became cheaper - during the trading day, they fell by 0.37%, and the price per barrel was $ 58.93.
On Monday the Brent oil prices fell 0.02%, getting to $ 66.45 per barrel. On Tuesday morning, Brent oil was traded at $ 66.31 (-0.21%), and keep in mind this rate. Thus, not too long ago the Brent barrel price showed the highest result for this year - $ 67.08 per barrel.
Some decline was mainly due to the situation in Yemen. Even if Yemen is not a key player in the oil market, the country is linked with the Bab-el-Mandeb golf, through which significant volumes of oil is transported. Therefore, deterioration of the situation in Yemen is pushing prices up, and if the news stays calm, the prices are reduced.
Now, on later Tuesday, the barrel price of Brent updated the yearly record. The price reached $ 68.09, and if you remember, it was $ 66.31 in the morning.
And it is also due to the geopolitical factors, particularly the conflict in Libya, which closed the oil terminal Zueitina - one of the few remaining functional despite the military operations in the country. Unlike Yemen, Libya is able to influence the world oil market by itself - the country's oil production before the military conflict was 1.5-1.6 million barrels per day, or about 1.6% of current world production, but because of the military action in Libya, production fell to 0.5 million barrels per day (less than 0.5% of the world).
The experts say that specifically these two conflicts will mainly influence the oil prices for the upcoming two-three months. The price per barrel can break the mark of $ 70, but it will normalize after a while and will go downwards.