The price of oil slowed down after the speech of the chairman of the US Federal Reserve

MOSCOW, August 26 – PRIME. World oil prices slowed down on Friday and again fell below $100 per barrel after the speech of US Federal Reserve System (FRS) Chairman Jerome Powell, in which he pointed out the need to maintain restrictive monetary policy, according to trading data and expert comments.

As of 20.38 Moscow time, the price of October futures for Brent crude oil is growing by 0.55%, to $99.89 per barrel, October futures for WTI – by 0.1%, to $92.61.

During the day, oil rose in price by more than 1%. A noticeable increase in prices was explained by the statement of the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia that OPEC + is ready to reduce the production of “black gold” to “stabilize” prices and “fight volatility” in the markets.

But earlier on Friday, at a symposium at Jackson Hole, Powell stressed that the US regulator’s priority goal remains to return inflation to 2%, for which the Fed will use tight monetary methods, such as maintaining a high refinancing rate.

Also published were data from the American oilfield services company Baker Hughes on the number of active oil drilling rigs in the United States. In the week to August 26, their number increased by four – up to 605 units.

Bullish sentiment driven by talk of a potential production cut… OPEC+ was offset by market pessimism sparked by a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell,” Manish Raj, chief financial officer of Velandera Energy Partners, told Market Watch. The expert also added, that the high discount rates of global financial regulators will cause a recession in economic activity, which will lead to a decrease in oil demand.