The sticker reads crude oil next to a storage tank in the Permian Basin in Mentone, Loving County, Texas, USA, November 22, 2019. REUTERS / Angus Mordant
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
SINGAPORE, July 18 (Reuters) – Oil prices widened gains on Monday, supported by a weaker dollar and tight supplies that offset concerns about the recession and the prospect that widespread COVID-19 blockades in the US China will reduce fuel demand again.
Brent crude futures for the September liquidation rose $ 2.54, or 2.5%, to $ 103.70 a barrel at 06.48 GMT, after a gain of 2.1% on Friday.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for delivery in August gained $ 2.31, or 2.4%, to $ 99.90 a barrel, after rising 1.9 % in the previous session.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
The US dollar
Last week, Brent and WTI posted their biggest weekly falls in about a month for fear of a recession that will affect oil demand. COVID’s massive testing drills have continued in parts of China this week, raising concerns about oil demand for the world’s second-largest oil consumer. Read more
However, oil supply remained tight, supporting prices. As expected, US President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia failed to secure any commitment from OPEC’s main producer to increase oil supply. Read more
Biden wants Gulf oil producers to increase production to help control oil prices and reduce inflation.
On Sunday, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to the U.S. State Department for Energy Security, told CBS’s Face the Nation that the trip would result in oil producers taking “a few more steps” in terms. supply, although he did not say which country or which country. countries would increase production. Read more
“While there have been no immediate promises to increase oil production, the United States has indicated an expected gradual increase in supply,” said Baden Moore, head of commodities research at the National Australian Bank, in a note.
“The reduction in SPR releases from November may offset this incremental supply, even if it is not more than a million barrels per day.”
The next meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, together called OPEC +, on August 3, will be closely watched as its current production pact expires in September.
Global markets are focusing this week on the resumption of Russian gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is scheduled to end maintenance on July 21st. Governments, markets and companies fear that the shutdown may be prolonged due to the war in Ukraine. Read more
“Brent crude will find support at the end of the week if Russia does not return gas to Germany after the maintenance of Nord Stream 1,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior analyst at OANDA.
The loss of this gas would affect Germany, the world’s fourth largest economy, and increase the threat of a recession.
Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday that she had productive meetings on a proposed Russian oil price cap with a number of countries on the sidelines of a meeting of the Group’s chief financial officers. 20 major economies. Read more
Yellen raised the idea of the price cap during a virtual meeting on July 5 with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, China’s trade ministry said last week.
The ministry had said that setting a limit on the price of Russian oil is a “very complicated matter” and that the precondition for resolving the crisis in Ukraine is to promote peace talks between the relevant parties. Read more
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Florence Tan in Singapore; Edited by Christian Schmollinger
Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.