The price of Brent crude for the first time since January 29, 2020 soared above $ 60 per barrel. As of 8:30 am Moscow time, the price of April futures reached $ 60.05, according to data from the London ICE exchange.
The WTI mark also grew in price, at the same time the March futures were trading at $ 57.54. Since the beginning of November last year, oil quotes have risen by more than a third.
Against this background, production in the United States began to recover. Brent prices in the $ 60 region make most shale oil producers profitable, and the number of drilling rigs in the region rose nine percent in January.
The rise in oil prices is associated with the position of the participants in the OPEC + deal, which at the end of the year agreed to toughen the terms of the deal to limit production. Additional obligations were assumed by Saudi Arabia, which voluntarily reduced production by a million barrels per day. The next meeting of the association is to take place in March.
Earlier, the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy (EIA) presented an annual forecast for oil prices for the foreseeable future. The ministry considered it possible that by 2050 the price of Brent will increase to $ 173 per barrel, although the pessimistic forecast refers to $ 48.