Commodities and Futures News

Oil Up, but China Fuel Demand Concerns Remain

2022.04.29 08:21

Oil Up, but China Fuel Demand Concerns Remain

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up on Friday morning in Asia, but ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns dampened fuel demand in China ahead of a long holiday. However, supply disruption fears as Western sanctions impact crude and product exports from Russia underpinned prices.

Brent oil futures rose 0.82% to $108.14 by 12:48 AM ET (4:48 AM GMT) after jumping 2.1% during the previous session. With the front-month June contract expiring later in the day, the more active July contract fell 30 cents to $106.96 a barrel. WTI futures gained 0.52% to $105.91 after settling 3.3% higher on Thursday.

Both Brent and WTI contracts are set to close the week and month higher, with WTI on track to post five consecutive months of gains. The increased likelihood that Germany will join other European Union member states in an embargo on Russian oil also gave the black liquid a boost.

Still, oil prices have been volatile as COVID-19 lockdowns in China continue despite the negative impact on the economy and global supply chains.

“With both full and partial lockdowns ramping up since March 2022, China’s economic indicators have plunged further into the red. We now expect China’s GDP to slow further in the second quarter,” Wood Mackenzie Head of APAC Economics Yanting Zhou said in a note.

“Oil market volatility is set to continue, with the potential for more widespread and prolonged lockdowns into May and beyond, skewing the near-term risks for China’s oil demand, and prices, to the downside.”

On supplies, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) is unlikely to tweak its existing supply deal too much. The cartel will likely agree on another small output increase for June at its May 5 meeting, six OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Thursday.

However, Russia’s oil production could fall by as much as 17% in 2022, according to Wednesday’s Ministry of Economic Development document seen by Reuters. Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 have also impacted investments and exports.

The sanctions have also made it increasingly difficult for Russian ships to send oil to customers, with Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) recently declaring force majeure for its Sakhalin-1 operations and cutting output.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 96,692.91 1.22%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,334.73 2.41%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.07%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 250.08 2.20%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 655.72 0.55%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.41 4.43%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.423836 0.92%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999711 0.06%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.00 5.45%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,334.23 2.52%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.206303 2.56%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 40.62 2.10%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.550707 12.20%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.09 3.04%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000025 2.46%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,948.26 2.44%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 96,449.84 1.24%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.69 1.39%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.43 0.22%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 506.85 1.00%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,334.65 2.46%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.35 2.52%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 3.10%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.58 6.95%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.47 1.37%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 96.33 2.61%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.13 3.95%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.63 1.10%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,509.92 2.35%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.144271 5.58%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.22 0.01%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.12%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.187491 6.23%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.552932 3.21%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.27 4.76%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.86 1.76%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.49 5.52%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.09%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.151191 1.56%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 507.46 1.19%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000047 0.42%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.04308 3.72%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.24 2.08%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999741 0.02%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.832779 3.96%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.82 7.38%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.56 0.58%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.46 2.86%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.63 2.59%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 53.51 3.96%