Oil prices rose to their highest level this year on Wednesday,ಞ🐬 and odds are they’ll climb even higher this summer, according to Bank of America (BofA) Securities analysts. 

Brent crude futures contracts traded just cents shy of $90 a barrel on Wednesday morning. The price of Brent’s American counterpart, West Texas Intermediate🦹, crossed $86 for the first time since October. 

Prices have been buoyed this year by production cuts totaling 2.2 million barrels per day by the 澳洲♍幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its non-OPEC allies. The group, dubbed OPEC+, decided on Wednesday to maintain those cuts.

On top of that, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:geopolitical tensions have both curbed supply and increased demand. Attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea have disrupted supply and, by lengthening global trade routes, boosted oil demand by an estimated 150,000 barrels per day. And Ukrainian attacks on Russia's refini♈ng infrastructure are threate🧸ning to reduce the supply of fuel.

At the same time, robust U.S. economic data points 🥂to stronger-than-expected demand throughout the summer. 

As the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Federal Reserve continues to monitor economic indicators to decide whether to cut interest rates later this year, the BofA analysts predicted that "lower interest rates and easier financial conditi🎃ons will support rising commodity prices into summer."

All these factors could lead t🧜o an oil deficit of up to 450,000 barrels per day in the second and third quarters, Bank of America analysts predict. “Thus, we increase our average Brent and WTI price forecast for 2024 to $86 and $81/bbl [a barrel], respectively, and see prices peaking at around $95/bbl this summer,” the analysts wrote.

BofA’s warning echoes that of the International Energy Agency, which surprised markets last month when it predicted global supply would 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:fall short of demand by an average of 300,000 ba༒rrels per day this year.