Oil prices dropped a little ground Thursday, the day after new records in ten and a half months and after the publication of the latest monthly report from OPEC highlighting the risks that still weigh on demand.

Around 4:15 p.m. GMT (5:15 p.m. in Paris), a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in March lost 0.73% in London compared to the close of the previous day, at 55.65 dollars.

The US barrel of WTI for the month of February dropped 0.19% to 52.81 dollars.

Crude prices "are in a consolidation phase after their recent gains, which have pushed them to their highest level since the coronavirus epidemic destroyed demand", noted Carlo Alberto De Casa, analyst at Activtrades.

The day before, the prices of the two benchmark contracts rose to $57.42 and $53.93 per barrel respectively, a first since the beginnings of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of last February.

Investors learned during Thursday's session of the monthly report of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

After a drop in global demand for crude oil of 9.8 million barrels per day last year due to the pandemic and the slowdown or even virtual shutdown of certain activities, such as air transport, OPEC is still expecting a rebound of 5.9 million barrels per day in 2021.

“While the organization left its demand forecast for this year unchanged, it highlighted the risks to economic recovery in 2021,” noted Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.

Investors were also digesting data on crude oil reserves in the United States, which fell by 3.2 million barrels last week, according to a report from the United States Energy Information Agency (EIA). aired Wednesday.

But the report "betrayed near-term weakness in gasoline demand," said Neil Wilson of Markets.com.

US gasoline reserves have indeed increased by 4.4 million barrels, while analysts expected an increase half that. Also up are those of distilled products (fuel oil and heating gas), barometers of industrial activity.