In New York, US oil, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February, fell 0.44%, to $73.89.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil from the North Sea for delivery in February fell 0.39%, to $79.39.
Angola announced its withdrawal from OPEC, amid disagreements over oil production quotas. Angola considered that it is time to “focus more” on its own objectives, its Minister of Natural Resources declared on Thursday.
This break reinforces the idea that OPEC and its ten allies grouped in OPEC+ seem to have lost some of their influence, between internal dissension, US competition and a feverish response to the climate emergency.
Ecuador has been the last country to leave OPEC, officially on January 1, 2020. For Phil Flynn, of Price Future Group, “in a market as light on the eve of a holiday as today, the announcement is seen as an element negative”
Flynn acknowledged the relative importance of the defection of Angola, “one of OPEC’s smallest producers,” with just over a million barrels of crude oil a month.
“It’s surely a mutually beneficial separation,” he said.
Source: AFP
