Business news from Ukraine

Oil prices are declining Monday morning after a sharp decline over the past week caused by concerns about the Chinese economy.
The cost of January futures for Brent at London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $86.65 a barrel by 7:06 a.m., down $0.97 (1.11%) from the close of the previous session. Those contracts fell by $2.16 (2.4%) to $87.62 per barrel at the close of trading last Friday.
The price of WTI futures for January at the electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $79.34 per barrel by that time, down $0.77 (0.96%) from the previous session. The contract fell by $1.56 (1.9%) to $80.08 per barrel at the end of last session.
Brent dropped 8.7 percent and WTI dropped 10 percent at the end of last week. Both contracts finished the trading at their lowest since the end of September.
The main negative factor for oil quotations last week was the concerns about demand for fuel, especially in China.
China’s State Council warned of the risks of “irresponsible weakening” of countermeasures against the coronavirus, the South China Morning Post reported. In the past two weeks, the number of new cases of COVID-19 infection recorded daily in China has increased sevenfold, the WSJ wrote.
Traders are also trying to estimate how much crude will leave the market after the European embargo on Russian oil went into effect Dec. 5.
“No doubt the market will keep an eye on oil supply data from OPEC+ countries in the coming weeks, as it remains unclear how much production will actually decline after the announced 2 million bpd cut,” wrote Barbara Lambrecht of Commerzbank.
Meanwhile, the number of active oil rigs in the USA last week increased by 1 unit to 623, oil services company Baker Hughes reported. The index rose for the third week in a row.

The value of January futures on Brent crude at London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $90.27 a barrel by 7:10 a.m. KSC on Friday, $0.49 (0.55%) above the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts fell by $3.08 (3.3%) to $89.78 a barrel at the close of trading on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for December at electronic trades of NYMEX grew by that time by $0.67 (0.82%) to $82.31 per barrel. By the close of previous trading the cost of those contracts fell by $3.95 (4.6%) to $81.64 a barrel.
Since the beginning of this week Brent has lost about 6% and WTI – 7.5%.
Weak expectations of traders regarding the prospects for oil consumption contributed to the decline in prices. Experts don’t expect rapid recovery of demand for fuel in China, where there was renewed growth of COVID-19, notes Bloomberg agency. In addition, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. forecast a “soft recession” in the U.S. economy next year due to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) raising the benchmark interest rate.
“The oil market can’t ignore the deteriorating demand outlook in the world’s two largest economies,” said Edward Moya, chief energy sector analyst at Oanda Corp. – Demand remains low, even despite the approaching entry into force of the embargo on Russian oil supplies to the European Union.”

Oil prices continue to fall Thursday morning on weakening geopolitical tensions.
The cost of January futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $91.97 a barrel by 7:22 a.m. Kk, down $0.89 (0.96%) from the previous session’s closing price. At the close of trading on Wednesday those contracts have fallen by $1 (1.1%) to $92.86 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for December at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $84.53 per barrel by that time, down $1.06 (1.24%) from the previous session. The day before, the contract fell $1.33 (1.5%) to $85.59 a barrel.
“Prices remain in negative territory as the market has largely ignored various geopolitical factors like Russian-related tensions and focused on more bearish factors such as signals of weakness in the Chinese economy,” Kpler senior oil analyst Matt Smith wrote.
Even the U.S. Department of Energy’s data, released the day before, failed to support the oil market, according to which the country’s commercial oil reserves fell by 5.4 million barrels last week, while analysts had expected a more moderate decline of 1.9 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories increased by 2.21 million barrels and distillates by 1.12 million barrels. Experts were expecting an increase in gasoline stocks by 200 thousand barrels and a decrease in distillate stocks by 1 million barrels.

Oil prices are rising moderately on Friday morning after the first rise in four sessions the previous day, caused by a sharp weakening of the dollar.
The cost of January futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures Exchange stood at $93.92 a barrel by 7:05 a.m. Ksk, $0.25 (0.27%) above the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $1.02 (1.1%) to $93.67 a barrel at the close of trading on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for December at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $86.72 per barrel by that time, which is $0.25 (0.29%) above the final value of the previous session. The contract rose by $0.64 (0.8%) to $86.47 per barrel on Thursday.
The index calculated by ICE, which shows the dollar’s dynamics against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona), fell about 2% the previous day after data on a sharp slowdown in U.S. inflation. U.S. consumer prices (CPI) rose 7.7% in October compared to the same month a year earlier after rising 8.2% in September. Thus, inflation slowed to its lowest since January and was well below market forecasts.
“The consumer price index came in below forecasts, and that eased some of the negative factors for oil, such as the strong dollar and fears of more aggressive Fed rate hikes,” said Price Futures Group senior analyst Phil Flynn.
“At the same time, uncertainty over China’s coronavirus policy persists,” the expert added. – It seems to me that once we see signs that the Chinese economy is starting to open up, that will radically change the dynamics and push oil prices up.”