Higher and higher

Brent crude oil hit $91.7/b on Friday. It is only slightly lower this morning. Russia continues to mass troops on the Ukrainian border as the US prepares to vote on deterrent sanctions against the country and its wealthy citizens. A new missile from the Yemeni Houthi rebels was also fired against the United Arab Emirates and intercepted.

On the fundamental level, little has changed: the OPEC meeting on Wednesday will probably arouse less interest than previous meetings insofar as it should result in a decision to continue increasing production, while many countries in the organisation have not been able to reach their quotas for several months. It should be remembered that the IEA estimates that OPEC production is 2 months behind (about 800kb/d) its theoretical schedule. On the product side, diesel prices are soaring.