Tausi Insider

Oil prices seesawed on Friday in thin market liquidity, closing a week marked by worries about Chinese demand and haggling over a Western price cap on Russian oil. Brent crude futures dropped 17 cents to trade at $85.17 a barrel by 11:25 a.m. EST (1625 GMT), having retraced some earlier gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 3 cents at $77.91 a barrel. There was no WTI settlement on Thursday due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and trading volumes remained low. “Because there’s light volume after the holiday, we’re giving up some of the gains here a bit,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group. Both contracts were headed for their third consecutive weekly declines after hitting 10-month lows this week. Brent was set to end the week down 2.6 per cent, while WTI was on track to fall 2.5 per cent. Brent and WTI’s market structure implies current demand is softening, with backwardation, defined by front-month prices trading above contracts for later...

Oil prices held near this year’s highs on Monday as easing COVID restrictions in China raised expectations for a demand recovery in the world’s top crude importer. Brent crude fell 38 cents, or 0.45 per cent, to $84.90 a barrel by 1012 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 26 cents, or 0.33 per cent, at $79.60 a barrel, amid thin trade during Monday’s U.S. public holiday. Both contracts rose more than 8 per cent last week, the biggest weekly gains since October after China abandoned what remained of its zero-COVID policy by reopening its borders on Jan. 8. China’s crude imports rose 4 per cent year on year in December, while an expected resurgence in travel for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of the week raised the outlook for demand for fuels used in transport. Traffic levels in China are rebounding from record lows after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, resulting in stronger demand for crude and oil products, ANZ analysts said in a note. But new reports o...