Brent Crude Oil Rises to $83.43 Per Barrel on Wednesday

Brent crude oil rose to its highest in 3 years on Wednesday after hitting $83.43 per barrel at 8:10 am Nigerian time.

Brent crude, against which Nigerian oil is priced, appreciated on the back of OPEC+ decision to stay with their planned output increase rather than boosting it further.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil rose to $79.47 a barrel, the highest since November 2014. The market was up 0.53 percent or 42 cents.

The increase in price was as a result of OPEC+ agreement to adhere to its July accord of increasing crude oil supply by 400,000 barrels per day each month until April 2022, phasing out 5.8 million bpd of existing production cuts.

“Crude oil extended gains as investors fret about tightness in the market as the energy crisis hikes demand,” ANZ said in a note.

“The (OPEC+) increase was well below what the market was expecting, considering the energy crunch across the globe. Not surprisingly, there is speculation that OPEC will be forced to move before the next scheduled meeting if demand continues to surge.”

Also, the report that OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee (JTC) predicted a 1.1 million bpd supply deficit in 2021 aided prices in this week.