Oil prices remained at just over $80, a barrel of Brent crude was temporarily as cheap as it was last at the beginning of June, Commerzbank’s Commodity Analyst Barbara Lambrecht notes.

Crude oil trades above $80

“Oil prices remained under pressure this week: at just over $80, a barrel of Brent crude was temporarily as cheap as it was last at the beginning of June. We pointed out on Tuesday that demand concerns in particular were weighing on prices. China’s demand has been especially disappointing of late. At least US consumers still seem to be a reliable support.”

“The US inventory report has thus prevented prices from falling below the $80 mark on a sustained basis. On the one hand, crude oil inventories have fallen more sharply than usual compared to the previous week and are now 5% lower than usual at this time of year. On the other hand, US gasoline inventories have also fallen significantly week-on-week by 5.5 million barrels.”

“This was mainly due to a significant recovery in US gasoline demand. It recovered from the previous week’s disappointing level and reached a new high for the year of just under 9.5 million barrels per day. Last but not least, it was thanks to the surprisingly good US growth figures reported yesterday that the price of crude oil is trading above $82 again at the end of the week.”