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TOKYO – Oil prices were mixed on Friday as strong import data from China, the largest oil importer in the world, which boosted sentiment previously raised concerns about blocking Chinese cities due to coronavirus outbreaks.
Brent dropped 3 cents to $ 56.69 on 0133 GMT, after gaining 0.6% on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 12 cents to $ 53.69 a barrel, up more than 1% in the previous session.
While producers face unparalleled challenges in balancing supply and demand equations with calculations involving vaccine launches and blockages, financial contracts have been driven by strong stocks and a weaker dollar, which makes oil cheaper, along with strong Chinese demand.
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“The euphoria of the oil market is unmistakably strong, but Asian market indicators are mixed,” said RBC Capital Markets.
“China, the global engine of growth in demand for oil, is fighting new outbreaks of COVID,” he said.
Oil prices were mixed on Friday, with strong import data from China, the largest oil importer in the world, which boosted sentiment previously and raised concerns about blocking Chinese cities due to coronavirus outbreaks. (AP Photo / Charlie Riedel, Archive)
Oil imports into China increased 7.3% in 2020, with record arrivals in two of the four quarters, as refineries increased run lengths and low prices generated inventories, customs data showed on Thursday.
But China reported the highest number of daily cases of COVID-19 in more than 10 months on Friday, the one-week limit that resulted in more than 28 million people under confinement and the country’s first coronavirus death in eight months.
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Across the Asian region, “refining margins remain abysmal and regional floating storage is higher than the levels of the previous month,” said RBC.
The prospect of increased oil demand from the world’s largest consumer of crude oil was a nearly $ 2 trillion COVID-19 aid package in the United States revealed by President-elect Joe Biden.