04.01.202112:56 Forex Analysis & Reviews: Oil prices hit March records in anticipation of the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting

On Monday, world oil prices are dynamically increasing in anticipation of OPEC+ decisions on the volume of black gold production in February of the coming year. At the same time, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil jumped $ 53 for the first time since March 4 last year.

Thus, the cost of March futures for the North Sea Brent oil mixture increased by 2.2% to $ 53.14 per barrel. At the close of the trading session on December 31, these contracts rose in price by 0.3% to $ 51.8 per barrel.

The price of February WTI oil futures jumped by 2.01% to $ 49.5 per barrel. On the last Thursday of the year, December 31, futures gained 0.3% and closed at $ 48.52 per barrel.

Today, it is important for members of the global alliance to take into account many potential risks, which make the market prospects in the first half of 2021 very ambiguous.

First of all, this is the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, which remains extremely unfavorable. The second reason is the consequences of a new strain of coronavirus, which calls into question the possibility of easing restrictions. On the eve of the OPEC+ meeting, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the prospect of strengthening quarantine measures in the United Kingdom, and Japan – about the possibility of another state of emergency in the country.

Recall that the new OPEC+ deal started in May 2020 with a reduction in production by 9.7 million barrels per day. In August, the restrictions were eased to 7.7 million. According to the agreements of the December meeting, in 2021, the volume of oil production was to gradually increase after a sharp decline in the previous year. So, from January 1, members of the international organization will be able to increase oil production by no more than 500 thousand barrels per day. At the same time, the ministers plan to meet monthly to respond to any changes in the market as quickly as possible.

On Monday, the participants of the transaction are preparing to decide on the issue of the level of production in February. During a preliminary meeting on Sunday, representatives of several countries proposed to refrain from increasing oil production in the near future. The main argument here was the uncontrolled increase in the incidence of COVID-19 and the slow introduction of a vaccine against it. By the way, many analysts predict that following the results of the New Year's meeting, OPEC+ will maintain the January production level in February.