OREANDA-NEWS. The price of WTI crude oil rose above $55 per barrel for the first time since January 24, 2020, according to trading data. As of 16:36 (Moscow time), the price of April futures for Brent North Sea oil blend rose by 2.36% to $57.66 per barrel, the price of March futures for WTI — by 2.3% to $54.78 per barrel. Minutes earlier, the indicator exceeded the mark of $55 per barrel.

Investors continue to be optimistic about the prospects for restoring the balance of supply and demand in the oil market. In January, the OPEC+ countries agreed new production agreements in February and March. Saudi Arabia has pledged to reduce production by 1 million barrels per day in these months. Some other OPEC+ countries have also agreed to such measures, and taking into account their participation, the total reduction is 1.425 million barrels of oil per day.

«The discipline of production compliance remains very high, despite higher oil prices,» said Helge Martinsen, an analyst at DNB, whose opinion is quoted by the «Wall Street Journal».

On Wednesday, traders also expect statistics on commercial oil reserves in the United States for the past week. Analysts predict an increase in stocks by about 400 thousand barrels in the week to January 29. For the previous week, the decline was 9.9 million barrels, as a result, stocks fell to the lowest since the end of March 2020.