Oil prices rose on Thursday, recovering from losses incurred in early trading, thanks to hopes that the planned easing of pandemic restrictions in the Chinese city of Shanghai will improve fuel demand, while continuing concerns regarding a global supply shortage overshadowed concerns regarding slowing economic growth.
Brent crude futures for July delivery rose $1.32, or 1.2 percent, to $110.43 a barrel, following falling more than a dollar earlier in the session.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for June delivery rose 62 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $110.21 a barrel, recovering from an early loss of more than $2. And US crude contracts for July delivery rose 1.33 dollars, or 1.2 percent, to 108.26 dollars a barrel. The two global benchmark contracts, to the nearest maturity, fell by regarding 2.5 percent, on Wednesday.
“The decline in Wall Street dampened sentiment in early trade, as it underscored concerns regarding weak consumption and fuel demand,” said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst at Rakuten Securities.
“Oil markets are still maintaining an upward trend, as an expected import ban from the European Union for Russian crude is expected to further reduce global supplies,” he added.
The European Union this month proposed a new package of sanctions once morest Russia, including a complete ban on Russian oil imports within six months, but it has not yet been adopted.
US crude stocks fell, last week, unexpectedly, as refineries increased production in response to the shortage of stocks, which raised diesel and gasoline prices in the United States to record levels.
In China, investors are closely watching the plans of Shanghai, the country’s most populous city, to ease anti-pandemic restrictions from June 1, which might lead to a recovery in oil demand in the world’s largest importer of crude. (Archyde.com)
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Oil prices rise despite Europe’s failure to ban Russian crude
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Oil prices rose today, despite the European Union’s failure to reach a unanimous agreement to ban the import of Russian crude, a move that would have reduced global supplies.
Brent crude futures prices rose by 0.7 percent to $115.02 a barrel in European trading, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.6 percent to $112.53.
The rise comes as investors await US crude oil supply data, which is due to be released by the American Petroleum Institute later today.
The rise also comes at a time when reports indicate that Shanghai is looking forward to a broad lifting of restrictions, and to allow the resumption of normal life from the first of next June.
And refining rates in China, the largest oil importer in the world, fell by 11% last April compared to last year, with production capacities falling to the lowest level since March 2020 due to the outbreak of Corona.
Ukrainian forces on Russia’s border following counterattack
Russian President Vladimir Putin mobilized his allies in the former Soviet space yesterday to confront what some of them described as a “hybrid and comprehensive war” waged by the West once morest Russia, coinciding with Finland and Sweden’s decision to join NATO, and Washington’s expression of its “confidence” in Achieving the new Atlantic expansion unanimously.
At a summit that brought together leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries in Moscow yesterday, calls for the formation of an “alliance once morest NATO” emerged, in what might constitute an updated version of the “Warsaw Pact” that was dissolved before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
While Putin stressed during the meeting that the Collective Security Treaty Organization is playing a very important role, and its role is increasing at this stage, his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko stressed the importance of “mobilizing the efforts of the countries of the organization,” saying that “Russia should not alone face the efforts to expand NATO”. Without a rapid mobilization of the CSTO on a united front, Lukashenko added, all of its countries will suffer. Lukashenko added: “If from the beginning we acted immediately as a united front, these infernal sanctions would not have been imposed once morest us,” pointing out that the West is waging a large-scale hybrid aggression once morest Belarus and Russia.
On the ground, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced, in a statement, yesterday, that its forces had regained control of part of the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region in the north-east of the country, as part of its counter-offensive launched a few days ago.
In turn, the Russian Defense Ministry announced yesterday that a truce was reached at the Azovstal Steel Complex, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in the coastal city of Mariupol, to evacuate the wounded Ukrainians.
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Oil prices rise amid optimism about increased demand from China
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
LONDON (Archyde.com) – Oil prices rose on Monday on optimism that Chinese demand will increase following positive signs that the coronavirus pandemic is easing in the hardest-hit areas. Brent crude futures rose $1.34, or 1.2 percent, to $112.89 a barrel at 1342 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $2.2, or less than 0.1 percent, to $112.71 a barrel. On Monday, an official in Shanghai said that the city aims to reopen widely and allow the normal life of its 25 million residents to resume from June 1, following infections subsided. However, it is estimated that 46 cities in China are under lockdown, affecting shopping, factory production and energy use. Meanwhile, US gasoline futures hit an all-time high on Monday, as falling inventories fueled supply fears. Oil prices also found some support when diplomats and European Union officials expressed optimism regarding reaching an agreement on a phased ban on Russian oil despite concerns regarding supplies in Eastern Europe.