XOM - Crude Oil Climbs To 5-Month High In Q1 Analysts Expect High Prices To Persist In Q2 | Benzinga
Oil prices surged during the first quarter of 2024 as the supply/demand outlook tightened and global geopolitical concerns intensified, pushing both U.S. and European benchmark crude futures to five month highs.
Over the first three months of the year, Nymex West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark futures contract rose by 16.1%, closing at $83.20 a barrel on March 28, having ended 2023 at $71.65. WTI rose in every month of the first quarter, following three months of declines between October-December 2023.
European benchmark Brent crude rose 13% over the first quarter, closing at $87.50 a barrel on March 28, having ended 2023 at $77.40. It also rose every month of Q1 after three months of losses.
The United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), an exchange traded fund that tracks the U.S. oil price showed a similar pattern of gains, rising 18.1% over the first quarter.
Also Read: Biden-Xi Talks Continue: Technology Block, Taiwan Top ‘Candid Exchange Of Views’
First Quarter Review
Oil prices had ended 2023 with sharp losses, falling more than 20% between their late-October peak and mid-December trough as global recession fears struck at demand forecasts.
However, as persistently robust economic data in the U.S. kept confounding expectations — particularly labor market and inflation figures — oil prices began to move higher.
They were given further fuel as organizations such as OPEC, the oil cartel, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised their demand forecasts to account ...