Oil hits over 7-year high
Oil prices extended gains to their highest levels in over seven years on Friday as ongoing global political turmoil fanned concerns over tight supply.
The benchmark contracts are on track for their sixth straight weekly rise, the longest run of gains since October.
Brent futures rose $1.25, or 1.4%, to $90.59 a barrel by 11:09 am ET (1609 GMT), having hit their highest level since October 2014 at $91.70.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.05, or 1.2%, to $87.66 a barrel after hitting an over seven-year high of $88.84.
Supply scarcity has pushed the six-month market structure for Brent into steep backwardation of $6.92 a barrel, the widest since 2013. This means that current levels are higher than those in later months, which usually encourages traders to release oil from storage to sell it promptly.
OPEC+ has struggled to raise their production levels.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2022.
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