Oil Prices Reclaim $100 a Barrel as Shanghai Eases Lockdowns
2022.04.12 23:26
By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – Oil prices moved back above $100 a barrel Tuesday as Shanghai’s move to ease some Covid-19 lockdown measures eased worries about the impact on global demand.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures gained 6.7% to settle at $100.60 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), Brent added 6.3% cents to settle at $104.64 a barrel.
Oil prices bounced back from a slump a day earlier with “the driver du jour being more optimistic speculation toward China’s lockdowns,” Scotiabank said.
Shanghai introduced the three-tier system to curb the spread of Covid-19, allowing some residents to leave their homes.
The impact of China’s restrictions hurt travel demand and had stoked fears about global oil demand.
The consulting firm FGE forecast the decline in transport demand in a range of 1.2 million to 1.3 million barrels per day in total.
The bounce in oil prices comes ahead of fresh U.S. weekly inventory data expected to show second-weekly build in stockpiles.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies rose by about 863,000 barrels last week.
