Crude oil trading continued to advance higher at the market opening earlier in the week with price movements now seen getting closer to 2021 highs.
At the beginning of the European session, Brent crude futures traded higher at $ 86.50 a barrel, while US WTI traded up at $ 84.45 a barrel.
Both benchmarks are around 2021 highs after Brent rose more than 5% and WTI rose more than 6% last week.
Commenting on the current price, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was clearly not bothered and said he was 'always comfortable' with oil prices.
He also added that it was the right of the US administration if it wanted to divest supplies from strategic petroleum reserves to reduce crude oil prices.
This shows Saudi Arabia’s stance that it will not produce additional oil to lower prices despite pressure from US President Joe Biden.
Earlier in November, the Biden administration announced the withdrawal of about 50 million barrels of oil from its emergency storage reserves. This was also agreed with other major consumers such as China, India and South Korea to combat rising fuel costs.
