By Srinivas Chowdary Sunkara // petrobazaar // 23rd March, 2021.
Brent oil prices for May delivery inched up 9 cents or 0.14% to settle at $64.62 a barrel on London based ICE futures Europe exchange. U.S crude oil benchmark, WTI oil April futures prices rose 13 cents or 0.21 pct to close at $61.55 a barrel on NYMEX. In Shanghai, Crude oil main contract futures prices increased 10.5 yuan to 390.1Yuan/bbl while MCX crude oil futures edged up Rs.45 or 1.01 pct to Rs.4460 a barrel yesterday. Brent premium over WTI narrowed down to $3.07 a barrel during the session.
The world crude oil price index curves moved steadily yesterday. Hopes for demand pick-up later this year helped to keep flour. Virus and lockdown concerns have been weighing on oil complex. Physical markets have come under pressure as refiners around the world, Including China and the U.S begin maintenance activities. As per Kemp, Hedge funds positioning in oil had become directionless in the run up to last week's sell off. Hedge funds and other money mangers purchased in the week to March 16th. Fresh fund buying seems to have dried up when front-month Brent futures prices climbed above $65/bbl. The current increase of U.S drilling activity is likely to accelerate further to take price advantage and, that will threaten OPEC+ market share. Asian markets are trading in red and it doesn't demonstrate any firm trend so far. Good day to all.
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