Brent crude hits $75 — first time in two years

Brent oil hit $75 a barrel for the first time in more than two years amid signs of a rapidly tightening market.

Brent oil futures went up 0.28 per cent to $75.11 a barrel on Tuesday morning, while the U.S. oil (WTI) futures is up 0.10 per cent to $73.19, Bloomberg reported.

Since May 21, Brent oil has been on a continual rise from $66.94 per barrel, dropping only marginally on two days before hitting the $75 dent.

This development comes a month after Brent crude closed $70 per barrel on the back of an improved demand outlook.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs had February projected that oil prices will rebound to $75 by the third quarter of 2021.

Bloomberg quoted Saad Rahim, Trafigura’s global chief economist, as saying that “The market is hungry for oil.”

Prices could top $100 a barrel in the next 12 to 18 months, Rahim was quoted as saying.

That would be good news for Nigeria that relies mostly on oil for its revenue and foreign earnings.

The economy suffered a double beating in 2020 when oil prices collapsed and the coronavirus pandemic forced a global lockdown.