Brent Oil Edging $60 on Cautious Optimism over Greek Debt

Oil prices edged up after early falls on Monday as parts of Asia returned from the Lunar New Year holiday, with Brent futures moving further away from $60 a barrel and U.S. contracts moving towards $51.  After early trading losses, both international Brent and U.S. WTI crude futures edged up on Monday in reaction to cautious optimism that an immediate return of a eurozone crisis over Greek debt was averted by a compromise between Athens and its creditors.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were trading at $60.39. at 0201 GMT, up 17 cents from their last settlement, while U.S. WTI crude was up 5 cents at $50.86 a barrel.  Despite the small rises on Monday, prices remain below last week’s highs.

Following a steep fall from June 2014 to six-year lows, oil prices recovered around a third of their value since mid-January, with benchmark Brent contracts jumping almost $20 a barrel to $63 a barrel last week as traders closed long-standing short positions in reaction to a falling U.S. rig count.  Yet many analysts said the price rise was overblown as record U.S. inventories and slowing demand around the world left oil markets oversupplied.

Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.