New York, Jul 2 (EFE) .- The price of intermediate oil from Texas (WTI) closed this Friday with a slight decrease of 0.09% to 75.16 dollars, after the main producing countries did not reach a consensus on supply levels for the second half of the year.
At the end of the operations on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the WTI futures contracts for delivery in August subtracted 0.07 dollars from the close of the previous day.
Despite the fall, the price of oil remained above $ 75, a figure it had not seen since 2018 and was reached on Thursday after reports of very cautious plans for increased production by OPEC and its allies, with an increase of 0.4 million barrels per day (mbd) per month.
However, this proposal met with opposition from some countries, so producers continue this Friday with their deliberations at the ministerial level to seek a consensus on how much crude they will produce between August and December.
Thus, the benchmark crude in the US fell slightly pending news of that meeting, where experts expect complicated negotiations.
According to analyst Louise Dickson, from the firm Rystad Energy, if there is finally a pact to increase the supply between 0.5 and 1 million barrels per day in August, prices could register a “moderate drop.”
Meanwhile, if OPEC and its allies do not reach an agreement and production remains at current levels, Dickson predicts a certain rise in prices at a time of clear increase in demand as the United States and Europe see the situation improve. of the covid-19.
For their part, gasoline contracts due in August were revalued by 3 cents to $ 2.29 per gallon, while natural gas contracts for delivery in the same month totaled 4 cents to $ 3.70 per thousand feet cubic.
(c) EFE Agency
