US crude futures rose above $80 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since April, responding to growth in the world's largest economy and the tightening of global oil supplies from output cuts carried out by producers such as Saudi Arabia
NEW YORK CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) US crude futures rose above $80 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since April, responding to growth in the world's largest economy and the tightening of global oil supplies from output cuts carried out by producers such as Saudi Arabia.
By 9:00 a.m. Eastern US Time (13:00 GMT), New York-based West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US crude, was at $79.86 a barrel, up $1.08, or 1.4%, on the day. WTI, as its known by its initials, hit a three-month high of $80.16 earlier in the day.
Brent, the London-based global benchmark for crude, had crossed $80, also the first time since April, two weeks earlier.
Both WTI and Brent are set to rise for a fifth straight week for their longest winning streak since June 2022. This week alone, the two crude benchmarks are up between 3% and 4%, after a previous four week run-up that gave them cumulative gains of between 12% and 13% each for July.
July was also the second straight month that oil prices had risen after a dismal stretch between January and May, where they fell for five months owing to global recession worries.
"Overall, oil fundamentals look solid," Scott Shelton, energy futures broker and analyst for ICAP in Durham, North Carolina, said in a commentary issued early Thursday. "I don't see a lot out here ... to hold back oil prices going higher."
Thursday's rally came after an advance estimate on the US economy by the Commerce Department showed an annualized 2.4% growth versus a forecast 1.8% and a first quarter expansion of 2%. The estimate was further proof that the United States was not headed for a recession even if the rest of the world economy might be having problems, analysts said.
