Crude Oil Futures

  The phone call between President Biden and President Xi of China, after a lull of seven months since the first of that kind being made, helped Asian markets make some gains in the early hours of trading. It is felt in the crude oil markets as well. Following the unexpected conversation, both sides said it was ‘candid’. Never in the recent history of the world, have the two top world economies seen a growing mutual animosity between them, which affects the global economy in many different ways; that’s why the thaw, no matter how illusive it may be in the long run, has such a positive impact on the markets worldwide that often are caught between in the tussle between two economic superpowers. The crude oil markets breathed a sigh of relief yesterday too; the oil price made a strong recovery. The reports of China’s recent tendency to tap its oil reserves, in order to mitigate the impact on the domestic energy costs, brought down the price of oil yesterday, having recorded a stro

  The prices of crude oil turned green on the screens in the stock markets on Wednesday across the world – finally. As of 10:30 GMT, WTI and Brent prices recorded $68.61 and $71.88 respectively, a rise of 0.51% and %40 in that order. Some analysts attribute the rise in price today to a boost in China’s crude oil imports in August; it’s not official, though. According to China’s National Statistics Bureau, its economy suffered on many fronts due to the new outbreaks of the pandemic. China, however, managed to bring it under control in record time, as had done on a few occasions since the very first outbreak in China in 2020. China does not normally face what the West faces when it comes to imposing arbitrary, but deemed essential, lockdowns. Nor does it ever face anti-vaccine protests; China managed to vaccinate more than 60% of its population with its own, home-grown vaccines. The optimism expressed by analysts about the revival of China’s oil imports make sense in light of

  Saudi Arabia reduced the price of crude oil for Asia on Sunday, which came as a bolt from the blue for the beleaguered markets. The cut was substantial; it was more than $1 and the move makes perfect sense as far as the biggest markets base of the Kingdom is concerned. It goes without saying the turmoil that the region has been descended into due to the pandemic, which in turn causes cumulative chaos in the regional collective economy. The state of the regional economy has been in the doldrums for months; it’s not a new development. Yet, Saudi Arabia raised the price of crude oil for the very region in early August – for inexplicable reasons. Having been sandwiched between two adverse factors, the pandemic and rising oil price, the regional governments, from India to South Korea, were forced to turn to their respective SPRs, the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, to mitigate the impact of the lesser of the two devils, the price of oil price, as the last resort. The frequent appea

  With a new election looming, the oil industry that transformed Norway from a poor nation in Europe to one of the wealthiest countries in the world in five decades, with an enviable welfare state to match, suffered a setback recently, which could have far-reaching consequences in the years to come. Norway recently offered eight licences for the exploration of oil, both in the North Sea and Barents Sea, while facing mounting criticism by its Green movement. Much to its horror, only four of them were taken by the companies interested in the task. In short, the oil companies have been forced to take the public mood on board before deciding to expand their activities in the sector. The Norwegian government has already decided to cut down on subsidies to the oil and gas sector, buckling under pressure from the Green movements, which can potentially determine the next government. The indigenous groups in Norway too have increased their agitation against the moves in exploring new oi

  The weaker dollar managed to eclipse the psychological hindrances faced by the investors this week that in turn resulted in a diffident rise in oil price, which saw a significant fall in August. As of 18:00 GMT, the price of WTI and Brent were $69.29 and $72.61 respectively, recording the modest rise. Analysts expected significant, steady rise in light of larger-than-expected UScrude inventories. Both the EIA, US Energy Information Administration and the API, American Petroleum Institute, released the weekly data showing falls in crude stocks by over 7 million barrels and 4 million barrels respectively; asfor the latter, it was almost twice as big as what had been estimated Neither the alarm over a new wave of the pandemic nor the fact that the US being at the jaws of nature’s wrath in terms of wild fires and tropical storms has brought the industrial activities and the road traffic to a grinding halt; the inventory draws explicitly show that it was not the case. Even the PR di