Crude Oil Futures

  China, the world's second largest economy, admitted this week that its economic growth suffered due to Covid-19 flare-ups in major economic hubs like Shanghai. Analysts long anticipated the impact on the Chinese economy due to strict, prolonged lockdowns that followed the escalation of infections; China's stubborn Zero-Covid-19 policy made the strict measures inevitable despite the obvious economic cost. The anxieties that loomed over the energy markets, in this context, are understandable. The price of crude oil, however, continues to go upward unabated. China is the second largest oil consumer in the world and its economic activities determine the sentiments in the fuel markets.  The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China clearly shows that the imports  Chinese economy and energy sector 2022 and LNG, liquified natural gas, have come down during the subdued economic activities.  Chinese activities, however, are optimistic about the prospects of reviving

  The price of LNG, liquified natural gas, has risen exponentially this month and has hit above $9 in early trading on Thursday, raising the spectre of economic gloom by a few more notches. In the middle of a rise in price of this kind in a major commodity, it is unthinkable that the price of crude oil is going to come down - in the near future; it's at best wishful thinking and at worst, just delusional - plain and simple. The West has exhausted every feasible strategy to get the OPEC to increase the output in order to bring the crude oil price down; the latter are in no mood to succumb to pressure, citing the issues related to infrastructure; When the latter, more or less, is at a proxy war with a key member of the OPEC+, Russia, the room for a wriggling is getting smaller by the every passing day. It is clear now that the West has given up on making appeals to the OPEC; instead, the individual countries come up with their own measures to mitigate the crises that stem from the hi