New York West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures closed higher on Thursday (Dec. 1), supported by a weak dollar. and the hope that demand for oil in China will improve. after a Chinese official announced the relaxation of COVID-19 control measures in Beijing and Guangzhou
- The WTI crude oil contract will be introduced in January. It was up 67 cents, or 0.8%, at $81.22 a barrel.
- The Brent crude oil contract (BRENT) will be introduced in January. They were down 9 cents, or 0.1%, at $86.88 a barrel.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 1.15 percent at 104.7300 overnight, with dollar weakness pushing the dollar price of crude over the edge. It is cheaper and more attractive to investors who hold other currencies.
In addition, investors are also reacting to news reports that Chinese authorities announce the relaxation of COVID-19 control measures in Beijing and Guangzhou In Beijing, people infected with COVID-19 are allowed to travel. those with mild symptoms are quarantined at home for a week Instead of the old measures infected people must be admitted to a quarantine center allocated by the government, regardless of the severity of the infection While the city of Guangzhou lifted the lockdown measures yesterday.
Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said China is facing a “New Situation” and Challenges in Disease Prevention and Control After a large number of people gathered to protest against the zero COVID policy in many places across the country. Now the ability to cause disease (pathogenicity) of the COVID-19 virus Omicron species began to decrease. as more and more people are vaccinated And the experience of controlling such viruses has also increased.
Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, said: “We believe that Ms. Sun and the relaxation of COVID-19 control measures in Beijing and Guangzhou It sends a significant signal that the zero COVID policy will probably end within the next few months. “
Investors are keeping an eye on the production policy meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies (OPECPlus) on December 4, while five sources say OPECPlus will not change production policy in the coming months at this meeting Two other sources expect OPEC Plus to cut more output.
In addition, the market will keep an eye on the European Union (EU) meeting to find a consensus on setting a ceiling on Russian oil prices. While the source said the EU meeting is discussing setting a ceiling on Russian oil prices at $60 per barrel. And review such measures every two months in the hope that such proposals will help the meeting reach a consensus. After the EU previous members had different views on the matter.
The intention of the measure is to lower Russian oil prices by selling oil to support the war in Ukraine. But it must not affect the global oil supply to the point of causing a shortage.
If the EU fails to reach a consensus on setting a ceiling on Russian oil prices, it will force the EU to take tougher measures by announcing a freeze on all crude imports from Russia starting December 5 and curbing imports of all Russian petroleum products from Russia February 5, 2023, which will have a serious impact on the global oil market.
By InfoQuest News Agency (02 Dec ’22)
Tags: lifestyle , WTI oil , crude oil , oil price
