Oil prices rise on Friday, but ended the week lower by more than 2% amid growing concerns among traders about the prospects for Chinese demand.
The incidence of COVID-19 in China continues to rise, forcing authorities to introduce new quarantine measures, notes Bloomberg.
Investors continue to follow the negotiations in the European Union concerning the price ceiling for Russian oil. Recent media reports suggest that the price ceiling may be set high enough to prevent the global market from losing a significant amount of raw materials from Russia.
The value of January futures for Brent crude at London’s ICE Futures Exchange by 8:05 a.m. Moscow time on Friday was $85.74 per barrel, $0.4 (0.47%) above the previous session’s closing price. At the end of trading on Thursday those contracts have fallen by $0.07 (0.1%) down to $85.34 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for January at electronic trades of NYMEX grew by that time by $0.58, to $78.52 per barrel. The day before, there were no major trades in the U.S. due to a holiday (Thanksgiving).
As The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, EU countries are still discussing at what exact level the price ceiling for Russian oil should be set. Poland, Estonia and Latvia opposed the G7’s proposed price of $65-70 a barrel, believing it is too high and leaves Russia with too much revenue. At the same time, Cyprus, Greece and Malta, the countries with a developed shipping industry, on the contrary, consider this level too low.
“The introduction of a price ceiling on Russian oil at $65-70 per barrel will not have a significant impact on the market, since it is already being sold at that value,” said Kotak Securities Ltd. a commodity sector analyst. Ravinda Rao, whose opinion is cited by Bloomberg.
