Brent Crude Futures Soar to $92

Oil prices rose sharply during these moments of trading today, shortly after OPEC’s monthly report.

Investors were also in a state of tension ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation data this week, which is likely to set the tone for next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

Oil prices continue to make strong gains over the past week, mainly supported by larger-than-expected supply cuts from major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia. The cuts have helped dispel some gloom over deteriorating global economic conditions, which traders fear could affect demand.

Brent crude futures rose to $91.91 a barrel, and up 1.4%.

WTI crude futures rose to $88.71 a barrel, up 1.6%.

OPEC on Tuesday stuck to its forecast for strong global oil demand growth in 2023 and 2024, attributing it to indications that major economies are performing better than expected despite unfavourable economic conditions such as higher interest rates and inflation.

OPEC added in its monthly report that it expects global oil demand to rise by 2.25 million bpd in 2024 against growth of 2.44 million bpd in 2023. The outlook remained unchanged from last month’s OPEC forecast.

OPEC added in the report that "the growth of the current global economy is expected to drive oil demand, especially given the recovery of tourism and air travel ... Pre-Covid-19 levels of total global oil demand will be exceeded in 2023.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is also due to release its monthly report on Wednesday.