MADRID, 15 (EUROPA PRESS)
The price of a barrel of oil, both Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was trading down around 1% compared to its cost at the close of trading yesterday, awaiting the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Alaska today.
In the case of benchmark oil for the Old Continent, the cost per barrel fell to $66.15 this Friday, almost 1% below the $66.84 recorded at the close of trading yesterday. Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of WTI crude, the benchmark for the United States, fell to $63.22.
So far this year, the cost of both types of crude oil has fallen by around 11%.
Likewise, in its latest monthly bulletin, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the global oil market imbalance risks worsening as a result of accelerated production by producing countries, especially following OPEC+'s decision to reverse its voluntary restrictions early, while global crude demand growth will be even weaker than previously expected.
"The oil market imbalance will widen as supply growth outstrips demand growth," said the agency affiliated with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has cut its forecast for global oil demand growth this year to 680,000 barrels per day, down from 700,000 barrels per day in July, as well as its forecast for consumption in 2026, which will increase by 700,000 barrels per day instead of the 720,000 barrels anticipated in the previous bulletin.
In contrast, the IEA has revised its crude oil production forecasts upwards and now expects global supply to increase by 2.5 million barrels per day this year, an increase of 370,000 units compared to the previous forecast, and an even larger revision for 2026, when it anticipates an increase in production of 1.9 million barrels per day, an increase of 620,000 compared to the previous forecast.
"This is because the eight OPEC+ members subject to voluntary production cuts agreed on August 3 to increase production by an additional 547,000 barrels per day in September, thus completely eliminating the 2.2 mb/d cuts agreed in November 2023," the Paris-based agency explained.
