Oil finishes the week on the lows - ForexLive
Oil finishes the week on the lows | Forexlive
The oil market finished last week on an optimistic note, closing just below the $80 level and threatening to break to the highs since November.
Alas, the dam didn't break and oil has slumped back to $76.62, finishing at the lows of the week. For most of the shortened week, oil was trading roughly flat but it slumped today, perhaps due to Israel-Hamas peace negotiations in Paris.That's despite a US weekly oil inventory report that showed some tightness, particularly in products.
US refineries should be ramping up in the weeks ahead and stronger global growth is a tailwind but the main driver right now is OPEC and there are signs that producer discipline isn't where it needs to be.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: petroleum
While electric-powered vehicles may be the ride of the future, oil remains at least for now the dominant fuel for transportation around the world. And after a period of time at the end of the 20th century when oil was subject to wide fluctuations in price, new supplies in North America as a result of non-conventional recovery techniques have helped stabilize prices.