For the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, three weeks ago, oil prices experienced a certain lull and have returned below 100 dollars.
Yesterday, the barrel of Brent of the North Sea closed at 98 dollars for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, while the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) American, dropped to $ 96.44.
Although it is too early to measure the impact of such a decline, it remains good news after three weeks of brutal increases.
This decrease of about 7% in a few hours, which puts the price of crude oil at its level before the war in Ukraine, would be due to the “hopes aroused by Russo-Ukrainian negotiations and the concerns of a slowdown in the Chinese economy,” said the experts.
Good news for Tunisians
This is good news for Tunisia where the rise in oil prices has had repercussions in particular at the pump.
These repercussions are all the more visible since the state budget for the year 2022 has been drawn up on the basis of a benchmark price of the barrel of oil (Brent) of 75 dollars and that an increase in a dollar in the price of the barrel of oil represents an additional cost of 140 million Tunisian dinars (MDT) for the state budget.
A direct consequence of this phenomenon, the increase in fuel prices, the second in a month.
It remains to be seen whether prices at the pump will be maintained or drop!
