By Srinivas Chowdary Sunkara // petrobazaar //16th January, 2021.
Brent oil futures for March delivery fell $1.32 or 2.34% to $55.1 on London based ICE Futures Europe exchange and WTI oil futures prices, to be delivered in Feb sagged down $1.21 or 2.26 pct to close at $52.36 a barrel on NYMEX last night. In Shanghai, Crude oil main contract futures prices dropped 3 Yuan to 339.4 Yuan/bbl while MCX crude oil current month futures prices plummeted Rs.51 to Rs.3830 a barrel yesterday. Brent premium over WTI narrowed down to $2.74 a barrel during the session. Both the benchmark futures are logged in first weekly losses in three weeks.
The world crude oil benchmark futures price curves moved down yesterday on lingering worries over expected dent in oil demand amid lockdown in Chinese cities. The factors of Boost in financial contracts on strong equities and weaker greenback that supported oil complex were called into question after rise in dollar and China ramping up lockdown measures. Analysts are in the opinion that oil market is structurally bullish, but it may be getting too ahead of forward looking fundamentals. On the Supply side, OPEC is optimistic about the growth of US shale this year due to higher oil prices. As per Reuters report, Russia has boosted oil and gas condensate output by 150000 bpd so far in Jan. Russia is set to raise crude production in Jan by 125000 bpd. Turning to weekly data, Baker Hughes reported that U.S oil rig count up 12 to 275.
Good day and Happy week end to all.
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