Oil prices are rising! Both international benchmark Brent and West Texas Intermediate have not only risen above the $30 level, but $31.
The much-beleaguered commodity is having its best day since August and its best week since October. A lot of the movement is being attributed Khalid al-Falih, the chairman of oil giant Saudi Aramco, calling crude prices below $30 “irrational” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He didn’t quite suggest that production cuts were on the way, instead saying that, given its strong financial position, Saudi Aramco could withstand low prices “for a long time.”
It’s worth keeping in mind what happened the last time words from the Saudi oil industry sent prices jumping. They made noise about cutting production back in December, but those talks went nowhere fast and prices kept going down.
But for now, oil companies are enjoying a respite from the last few days of gloom and doom. Happy Friday!