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© Reuters. File photo: Crude oil storage tanks can be seen in an aerial photo of the Cushing Petroleum Hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, USA on April 21, 2020.Reuters/Drone Base/File Photo
Jessica Resnick-Olt
NEW YORK (Reuters)-Oil prices stabilized on Tuesday as the OPEC Secretary-General’s remarks boosted broad hopes for a recovery in demand, slightly covering up travel restrictions due to the new outbreak of the highly contagious Coronavirus Delta virus.
The futures settlement price rose 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $74.76 a barrel, and fell 2% on Monday.
After falling 1.5% on Monday, the settlement price of US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose 7 cents, or 0.1%, to US$72.98 per barrel.
OPEC Secretary-General Muhammad Barkindo said at the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee meeting on Tuesday that demand is expected to increase by 6 million barrels per day in 2021, of which 5 million barrels per day will increase in the second half of the year. The country, Russia and its allies.
He said in a speech: “The current’wild card’ factor is the pandemic’Delta Variant’, which has led to an increase in cases in many areas and the re-implementation of restrictions,” he said in a speech, and Reuters saw a copy. Copy of speech.
The producer group is expected to gradually increase production according to demand.
“Barkindo’s comments indicate that OPEC’s production increase is not fast enough to keep up with demand,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at the Chicago Price Futures Group.
OPEC’s demand forecast shows that global oil supply in the fourth quarter will be 2.2 million barrels per day less than demand, which provides some room for oil-producing countries to agree to increase production.
Analysts said that the market expects the launch of the vaccination program to boost demand prospects, even if new variants increase.
“The narrative of the past few months has not changed: the war against the virus is gradually being won, and the global economy and oil demand are recovering,” said PVM oil analyst Tamas Varga.
“Oil supply is effectively managed. Therefore, avid bulls may see the decline as an attractive buying opportunity.”
“The market has been relatively unaffected by the development of COVID-19, but if the larger demand centers in Asia are blocked, we may see the indifference of the market subside.”
Spain and Portugal, the favorite summer destinations of Europeans, imposed new restrictions on unvaccinated Britons on Monday, while Australians are also facing stricter restrictions due to a nationwide virus outbreak.
(Illustration: Global oil supply shortage in 2021, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/xegpbzydapq/Pasted%20image%201624878145906.png)
Investors will pay attention to the latest oil inventory data from the US Department of Energy on Wednesday to get clues about the demand outlook.
Two market sources said that industry data released late on Tuesday showed that after US crude oil inventories fell and fuel inventories increased last week, futures rose in after-hours trading.
According to an unnamed source, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that crude oil inventories decreased by 8.2 million barrels, gasoline inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels, and distillate inventories increased by 428,000 barrels. [API/S]
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