Oil at the end of the week continues to fluctuate in the range of $81.40-82.50 per barrel. The current Brent quote is $82.20. The situation in the United States remains in the focus of attention of market participants, where pressure on President Joe Biden is increasing. Many, including representatives of his own party, expect the new president to solve the problem of high prices, since the inflation rate in the United States was the highest in the last 30 years. In addition, investors are analyzing OPEC's monthly report, which contained unfavorable estimates for the oil market: the organization slightly lowered forecasts for oil demand growth in 2021 and 2022. First of all, the OPEC secretariat lowered its estimate of global oil demand in 2021 in North America and India, despite the fact that the recent figures of these countries significantly exceeded the level of a year ago. At the same time, OPEC expects an increase in demand in China, which also came as a surprise to market participants, given the restrictions on flights in force in the country against the background of the growing number of infected Covid–19. The non-OPEC supply forecast for 2021 has not been changed, and for 2022 it has been slightly reduced.
QUICK LINKS