The price of mexican blend of crude oil for export it has fallen 12.90% so far in 2023, going from 69.71 to 60.72 dollars per barrel, due to fears that the demand for fuels will drop due to a recession in the United States.
On the other hand, the European North Sea Brent falls 12.35% in the year, from 85.91 to 75.30 dollars per barrel, while US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) loses 11.11%, from 80.26 to 71.34 dollars.
An economic recession in the United States, which experts estimate could arrive in the last quarter of this year, would result in a considerable drop in the demand for fuel in the country, which is the world’s main consumer of crude oil.
That is why the prospects for the US economy have generated downward pressure on the price of raw materials.
On Friday, the petroprices They rallied, but that wasn’t enough to reverse the weekly loss.
The crude oil futures They already have three consecutive weeks of losses, after the markets registered drastic falls due to fears of the weakening of the US economy and the slowdown in Chinese demand.
He Brent rose 3.9% on Friday to $75.30 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate in the United States it gained 4.1%, to $71.34, after four days of decline that brought the contract to the lowest seen for the last time at the end of 2021, according to data from the Reuters agency.
Mexican oil (Pemex) did not publish the data on Friday mexican mix Due to the celebration of May 5, however, in four days it accumulated a fall of 9.41% to 60.72 dollars a barrel.
He WTI fell 7.09% on the week, its biggest weekly loss since mid-March, while the Brent it pointed to a weekly decrease of 5.33 percent.
The referential Brent closed the week with a decrease close to 5.3%, while the WTI lost 7.1%, despite the rebound on Friday.
It is the first time since November 2023 that the three contracts have chained three consecutive weeks down.
“Rather than underlying fundamentals, the selling frenzy over the past week has been driven by demand concerns linked to recession risks and stress in the US banking sector,” said Stephen Brennock of PVM. “The result is that there is a big disconnect between balance sheets and crude prices.”
Commerzbank analysts also said concerns about oil demand are exaggerated and expect an upward price correction in the coming weeks.
A US jobs report helped assuage fears of an economic slowdown, spurred in part by banking fears. Investors expect the Federal Reserve to suspend rate hikes in June.
In China, factory activity contracted unexpectedly in April due to falling orders and weak domestic demand.
(With information from Reuters.)
