Oil prices are recovering on Friday after updating their lows since August in the previous session.
The cost of December futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:09 a.m. on Friday is $84.2 per barrel, which is $0.13 (0.15%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Thursday, the price of these contracts fell by $1.74 (2%) to $84.07 per barrel, the lowest since August 24.
Futures for WTI for November in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have risen by $0.21 (0.26%) to $82.52 per barrel by this time. At the end of the previous session, the value of these contracts decreased by $1.91 (2.3%) to $82.31 per barrel, the lowest since August 30.
The day before, oil fell in price on the prospects of weakening global demand, which outweighed concerns about limited supply. In particular, data from the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday showed a significant decline in demand for gasoline. Its stocks jumped by 6.48 million barrels in the United States last week, the ministry said. At the same time, oil reserves decreased by 2.22 million barrels.
The consensus forecast of analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights was for gasoline reserves to remain unchanged and for oil stocks to decline by 1.4 million barrels.
German authorities intend to send additional air defense systems to Ukraine to protect the country’s grain exports, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
“They said on condition of anonymity that Berlin will supply an additional IRIS-T air defense system and more than a dozen Gepard systems to provide cover for shipments along Ukraine’s southern coast to Romania,” the agency reports.
These weapons are expected to arrive in Ukraine by the end of the year; Kyiv is to receive more IRIS-Ts as they are produced by Germany.
The sources did not disclose what routes these air defense systems will cover or what other capabilities Berlin may include in the new aid package for Ukraine.
German MP Markus Faber confirmed that Ukraine will receive additional IRIS-T and Gepard systems, as well as ammunition, but did not provide details.
According to Bloomberg, Gepard has a range of 4 km, and IRIS-T – up to 40 km. The air defense systems can be used to protect port infrastructure, the process of loading grain onto ships, and when they are at sea.
As part of the visit of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Kingdom of Spain, the Head of State had an audience with His Majesty King Philip VI in Granada, the President’s press service reported on Thursday evening.
The President expressed gratitude to King Philip, the royal family of Spain and the entire Spanish people for their continued support for Ukraine.
“We appreciate the assistance provided by Spain from the first days of the full-scale invasion of the aggressor state in Ukraine’s struggle for our common European values,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
He also emphasized the significant humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people and the great attention paid to Ukrainians who came to Spain to escape the Russian war.
According to the press service, His Majesty King Philip VI expressed his admiration for the Ukrainian people who are resisting Russian aggression. He emphasized that Spain’s support for Ukraine in this struggle is based on fundamental respect for the sovereignty of countries and the inadmissibility of armed aggression.
The UK will provide a new winter aid package to Ukraine worth more than half a billion dollars, the British government’s website reported on Thursday, October 5.
“The new aid allocations to Ukraine announced today include £34 million (over $41 million) for the UN and charities providing shelter and warm winter clothing,” the statement said.
In addition, 10 million pounds (over $12 million) will be allocated to restore energy supply to household consumers after Russian attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure.
A fourth UK loan guarantee of $500 million, provided through the World Bank, has also been announced. This funding should ensure that the Ukrainian government can provide vital winterization payments to three million households.
The French-made quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine has passed quality control and will be delivered to pharmacies in the near future.
According to the website of the Ministry of Health, 15,100 doses of the vaccine have received a positive conclusion on compliance with the requirements of national and international standards.
Earlier, 114600 doses of the Korean-made vaccine were approved by the State Service.
The agency clarifies that approximately 6 million infectious diseases are registered in Ukraine every year, 98% of which are influenza and ARVI. The increase in the incidence is traditionally expected from the 40th week, that is, from the beginning of October.
The number of registered cases of COVID-19 is growing in Ukraine, Chief Sanitary Doctor and Deputy Minister of Health Ihor Kuzin has said.
“We are seeing a steady increase in the incidence of COVID-19. Over the past week, more than 4 thousand cases have been confirmed. A week earlier, only 2.5 thousand cases were registered,” he said during a national telethon on Thursday.
Kuzin noted that among the negative trends is that children under the age of 17 are more likely to get sick. In particular, the incidence among them has quadrupled in Mykolaiv region, tripled in Vinnytsia region, and almost 2.5 times in Kharkiv region.
At the same time, COVID-19 mortality is also increasing.
“While only isolated cases were registered during the summer, over the past week the mortality rate has increased by almost 2.5 times. Over the past week, we have registered nine fatalities, and all of them were among people aged 65 and older,” he said.
