NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st August, 2023) Oil prices rose as much as 15% in July, delivering the biggest gain in 18 months for producers in OPEC, who used the specter of production cuts to unnerve a market that usually sees runaway demand for travel during the summer.
Notwithstanding the market squeeze applied by the 13-member Saudi-led� Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their 10 oil-producing allies, which includes Russia,� US energy demand has been relatively underwhelming this month. Crude inventories in the world's top consumer showed a net gain in the first three weeks of July without last week's data.
New York-based West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude finished July trading at $81.80 a barrel, up $1.22, or 1.5%, on the day. For the month, WTI was up more than $11, or nearly 16%. In Monday's trade, the US crude benchmark rose to as high as $81.72, a peak not seen since April.
London-based Brent crude settled Monday's session at $85.56, up 57 cents, or 0.7%, on the day. For the month, it gained almost $11, or 14%, above June's closing price. The global oil benchmark hit a three-month high of $85.47 during Monday's session.
The gain for July was the highest for both WTI and Brent since January 2022, after a five-week rally that began just ahead of the start of this month.
The NFP, or non-farm payrolls, report refers to US job performance in July, which the Federal Reserve is closely watching to decide how to move forward with inflation.
From a four-decade high of 9% in June 2022, the Fed has managed to bring inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, to just 3% per annum in June this year. But the success came with a big price: the raising of interest rates by 525 basis points in just 18 months to smother the runaway inflation caused by the trillions of Dollars of pandemic relief spending by the government.
