By Srinivas Chowdary Sunkara // petrobazaar // 20th August, 2021.
Brent oil futures prices for Oct delivery declined $1.78 or 2.61 pct to $66.45 a barrel on London based ICE futures Europe exchange. WTI oil futures for Sep delivery sank $1.77 or 2.7 pct to settle at $63.69 a barrel on NYMEX last night. In Shanghai, Crude oil main contract futures prices slumped 16.6 Yuan to close at 405.9 Yuan/bbl while MCX crude oil front month futures prices closed Rs.171 lower at Rs.4706 a barrel yesterday. Brent premium over WTI was steady at $2.76 a barrel during the session.
The world crude oil price index curves demonstrated down side momentum after both the benchmark prices hammered by surging virus cases in all major oil consuming countries. Escalation of demand fears, Weaker riskier assets continued to press oil complex. Dollar advanced after Federal Reserve pulled back their plans to purchase bonds, Weighed on oil prices, Since strong dollar makes oil costlier. Bearish gasoline numbers shifted the market focus from more than expected draws in U.S crude stocks last week. Brent's six month calender spread has softened from a backwardation of $4.58 per barrel to $2.5, Implying traders expect a smaller drawdown in global oil inventories. John Kemp says that until governments are comfortable enough with the transmission rate to ease international flying restrictions, Oil prices are likely to remain capped. Today, Asian markets opened in green, Drawing back some of the losses in the previous sessions. Both the benchmarks are heading to close this week in losses.
Good day to all.
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