Vietstock – Oil almost flat on worries about demand

Oil prices steadied on Monday (July 26) as the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant raised concerns about future fuel demand, although crude supplies look set to tighten. for the rest of this year.

Ending Monday’s session, the Brent oil contract advanced 18 cents to $74.28 a barrel. The WTI oil contract edged up 5 cents to $72.12 a barrel.

Both of these contracts fell more than  1 USD/barrel at the beginning of the session.

The number of Covid-19 infections continued to rise over the weekend, with several countries reporting record daily infections and an extension of lockdown measures that could slow oil demand. China, the world’s largest oil importer, also recorded an increase in the number of Covid-19 infections.

Moreover, Beijing’s crackdown on import quota abuse combined with the impact of high crude oil prices could send China’s oil import growth to a two-decade low this year, although refining rate is expected to increase in the second half of the year.

Strong demand in the US and expectations of tight supply have helped both the Brent and WTI futures contracts recover from their 7% drop on July 19 to mark their first weekly gain in two to three weeks.

The global oil market is forecast to remain in deficit despite the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, to increase production for the remainder of the year. five.

“There seems to be a battle between the supply shortfall and the threat of the Delta variant in low-vaccination areas,” said StoneX analyst Kevin Solomon.

An Tran (According to CNBC)

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