Oil prices maintained their upward trend Monday during the European trade, still supported by the forest fires raging in Canada and the appointment of a new oil minister in Saudi Arabia.
By 1000 GMT (12H00 in Paris), a barrel of Brent North sea crude for July delivery was worth 46.21 dollars on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) in London, up 84 cents from Friday’s close.
in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of “light sweet crude” (WTI) for June delivery gained 1.06 dollars to 45.72 dollars.
“Despite the lackluster nature of US data on Friday and broader economic indicators in general, oil prices continue to hold up well, (the market) expecting that a tight supply eventually happen” , fell Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
According to the analyst, the courses benefited fears that the fires in Alberta can rage for months, threatening to bring down oil production the region. They also took advantage of the appointment of a new Saudi oil minister and a report that new black gold discoveries are at their lowest for 60 years.
While cooler weather allowed Monday to contain the advance of forest fires in the Fort McMurray area, with a lesser threat to the surrounding oil facilities some of which were beginning to outline a recovery in activity, the sector remained heavily affected.
with several closed mining sites, some believe that the shortfall for Canada in terms of oil production could reach 1 to 1.5 million barrels per day, or about a quarter of total production of the country.
“Canada is the main supplier of oil (outside) of the United States”, noted analysts at Commerzbank, adding that the Americans will have to find another source of imports or see their crude reserves fall by no less than 7 million barrels in the week.
in addition, the course also had to digest the sacking over the iconic weekend Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi, who gave the tone of the oil policy of the kingdom (the world’s largest crude exporter) for more than two decades, and its replacement by the CEO of Saudi Aramco, the first oil company in the world, Khaled al-Faleh, who inherits a super ministry Energy, Industry and mineral Resources.
in redesigning the Saudi government, the king Salman and his all-powerful son Mohammed were, according to experts, put the state apparatus Kerb to launch their plan to make the economy less dependent on oil.
most analysts, however, felt that this change of minister was not likely to profoundly reshape the Saudi policy energy field, suggesting that oil prices were more responsive to Canadian fire at this reshuffle.
“as Minister of the oldest oil within the Organization of petroleum exporting countries ( OPEC) Ali al-Nuaimi has played a key role in the development of the energy policy of the country since 1995 and has long been regarded as + the most powerful oil in the world ‘, “commented analysts at Commerzbank.
But in these, his influence had already begun to decline in 2014 with the advent of the king because Salman al-Nuaimi’s strategy to flood the black gold market to bring down prices and thus counter competition, including the US oil shale, has struggled to pay off.
the RBC Capital Markets analysts felt that the appointment of a new Saudi oil minister less charismatic and independent than its predecessor did especially part of the strategy to consolidate the power of heir vice Prince Mohammed bin Salman and did not represent a change in the current Saudi oil policy.
Mohammed bin Salman “is more focused on the fact of putting end to the Saudi independence from oil through deep reforms and maintaining market share (the kingdom) against Iran it seeks an increase in oil prices “, expliquaient- they.
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