By Ovunc Kutlu
ANKARA
Brent crude, the leading global benchmark price for oil purchases, has risen sharply on Friday, reaching $86.33 per barrel at 3:00 pm GMT.
Bouncing off its lowest point of around $82 in four years, Brent was traded as high as $87.12 during mid-day Friday.
West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark for oil pricing, has also increased to $83.20 per barrel.
"Prices have fallen so far so quickly that there will always be a bit of bounce," said Thomas Pugh, a commodities economist at Capital Economics, a London-based independent research company.
"The market expects demand to be very weak, and that is part of the reasons for the price falls, but people realized that demand is not as bad as it was expected to be," he added.
The trend of declining oil prices since July is a result of the skyrocketing value of the U.S. dollar hampering oil dependent countries' purchase power, coupled with a spike in U.S. oil production.
In addition, the decaying growth rate of Asian countries and the prolonged recovery of European markets have been other contributing factors for the fall.
"We expect the prices to rebound a little bit by the end of year, finishing a little bit above $90 for Brent," Pugh said.
"Over the next couple of years, we expect prices to continue falling. Supply is going to continue to outpace demand, when a number of OPEC members - Iran and Libya - should be coming back to the oil market," he added.
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