As October 2021 is slipping away, the oil market is showing signs of complete recovery. Recently, the oil prices hit their highest marks in the last few years due to demand recovery. Oil and diesel are now being preferred over expensive gas for power generation. A rise of 1% or 87 cents was seen in Brent crude oil futures. It was standing at $85.73 a barrel. It is the highest figure of Brent crude oil futures in the last three years. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also rose by 1.4% or $1.12. It was standing at $1.12. This is the highest price for US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) in the last seven years. In the last week, both the contracts witnessed a growth of at least 3%.
According to the analysts of ANZ bank, most of the restrictions around the world have been lifted, and it is actively helping in the recovery of fuel consumption. By next month, the United States of America is planning to open its border to all vaccinated foreign travellers. Other countries in Asia are also likely to follow the move. All these situations are likely to boost the demand for oil. According to some estimates, oil is being preferred over gas for power generation. Due to such factors, it is being estimated that in the fourth quarter, the demand has been boosted by about 450,000 barrels per day. In order to meet the demand, the energy firms in the United States are adding natural rigs of oil and gas. As the crude oil prices are rising rapidly, the drillers returned to the well-paid and added more rigs. After analyzing the recent figures, it can be easily concluded that the output and demand are likely to grow in the future. The oil and gas rig count stands at 543. New oil and gas rigs were added for six consecutive weeks in a row. The Chinese economy is facing mild fluctuations, but it is still the second largest consumer of oil in the world.
The European stocks managed to deliver their best weekly performance in the last seven months. It was really a bright start to the earning season. Some investors are concerned about factors such as inflation, but when stock markets show signs of stability, their fear fades off. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) made a gain of 0.7%. The European and US banks have managed to recover from all their pandemic-related losses. The retailers (.SXRP), travel (.SXTP) and oil & gas (.SXEP), all managed to grow between 1.6% and 2%. According to various experts, it is expected that the biggest boost to earning performance will be provided by energy and industrial companies.