BUSINESS
Surge in crude oil prices
April 20, 2018 -
Os preços do petróleo atingiram um máximo desde 2014, com o Brent
acima dos $74 o barril. O Brent subiu 11,4% desde janeiro.
Analysts point to escalating conflicts in Syria and Yemen, a crisis in Venezuela, and cuts to Saudi Arabian production for driving both Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to their highest levels since November 2014. On Thursday they traded $74.75 and $69.56 per barrel respectively.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been cutting crude output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to prop up oil prices since January 2017. Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia would be comfortable with prices trading in a range of $80 to $100 as it prepares to list state energy giant Aramco in early 2019.
China is importing a record nine million bpd of crude -- almost 10 percent of global consumption -- costing nearly $20 billion a month.