Oil prices continue to decline on Wednesday after falling by more than 4% in the previous session.
Pressure on the market continues to have traders doubts about the prospects for demand for oil in China, where there remains a high incidence of COVID-19 after the removal of most of the quarantine restrictions.
“We believe that demand for commodities in China will remain weak in the first quarter of the beginning of the year, given the ongoing recession in real estate, a new wave of COVID-19 disease and weak export demand,” notes Capital Economics analyst Caroline Bain.
Meanwhile, fears of energy shortages in the global market during winter, which supported prices in recent months, are weakening, given the milder-than-expected winter weather in the U.S. and Europe, notes Bloomberg.
March Brent crude futures on the London-based ICE Futures exchange were at $81.93 a barrel by 7:10 a.m. Wednesday, down $0.17 (0.21%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts fell $3.81 (4.4%) to $82.1 a barrel at the close of trading on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for February at electronic trades of NYMEX fell by that time by $0.27 (0.35%) to $76.66 per barrel. By the close of previous trading the cost of those contracts fell by $3.33 (4.2%) to $76.93 a barrel.
At the end of 2022 Brent has risen by 10.5%, WTI – by 6.7%.
