Oil is vacillating between record demand growth and short-term fears. Oil prices were hesitant about which direction to take on Friday, between the IEA revising crude demand growth forecasts upward, and rising inflation in the United States that could pave the way for another Fed rate hike

Around 10:30 GMT (12:30 CET), a barrel of North Sea Brent, for delivery in October, gained 0.37% to 86.72 dollars. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in September, rose 0.35% to $83.11

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2023 to reach its “highest level ever recorded” to 102.2 million barrels per day, according to its monthly report published on Friday.

Despite their break on Friday, prices have maintained their advances of the last few weeks: since the end of June, the two crude oil references have risen by around 20%, in the wake of production cuts from Saudi Arabia and reduced deliveries from Russia.

On the natural gas side, the futures contract of the Dutch TTF, considered to be the European reference, fell slightly at 36.55 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).