Crude oil prices received support from the suspension of some oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan, which raised concerns about supply, and this also coincided with the improvement in market sentiment in light of the calming of fears of a global banking crisis, which pushed US crude to achieve profits by about 10 percent, for the first time since down to its lowest level in 15 months.
Oil analysts told Al-Eqtisadiah that the legal dispute between Iraq, Kurdistan, and Turkey led to a halt in the flow of about 400,000 barrels per day, which led to a restriction of global supplies and renewed fears of a scarcity of oil supply, while the market ignored fears of the accumulation of crude oil ships along French coast due to strikes.
In this context, Martin Graf, director of the Austrian energy company Energy Steyrmark, says that the factors supporting crude oil prices have overcome the decline in the current period, with the receding of fears of the international banking crisis and the shrinking of Iraqi supplies, in addition to the recovery of demand in China, which most market observers are still betting on. However, it will accelerate and support prices later this year.
He stated that the rise in prices is also due to the adherence of the major producers in “OPEC +” to focus on strengthening the balance between supply and demand, with the approaching date of the ministerial meeting of the Production Monitoring Committee on April 3, as expectations indicate that the group adheres to the path of reducing production amid the turmoil. in the financial markets.
For his part, Sultan Corali, an Albanian analyst and specialist in banking and energy affairs, believes that the market is in a state of anticipation of the “US Federal Reserve” position and whether it will decide on further increases in US interest rates, in addition to the new inflation data in the United States, which will determine the future course of the policy. Cash points out that the increase in interest rates undoubtedly weakens the morale of the oil market. He pointed out that the delay in resolving the dispute between the Kurdistan region and the Iraqi government caused a remarkable rise in prices as a result of the survival of nearly 400 thousand barrels per day outside the oil market.
As for Goran Geras, assistant director of ZAF Bank in Croatia, he points out that the previous drop in prices following the crisis of the collapse of the American bank was temporary, especially since the American economy did not enter a state of recession and expectations remained for a gain of 2.2 percent in GDP. global this year.