New York.- The price of Texas oil (WTI) opened this Monday with a drop of 0.87%, to 88.19 dollars a barrel, after a strengthening of the dollar, the increase in covid cases in China and the downward forecast of OPEC on crude oil consumption.
As of 9 am New York time (2 pm GMT), WTI futures contracts for December delivery were down $0.77 from the previous day’s close.
The reference crude oil in the United States started the week lower, after the peak on Friday when it closed with a rise of 2.95% in reaction to China’s announcement that it is relaxing some of its measures to combat covid-19, which which is expected to increase the demand for crude oil.
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However, the increase in covid-19 infections announced by the authorities seems to have worried investors.
The Chinese National Health Commission reported this Monday the detection of 1,794 new positives for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus the day before, 1,747 of them due to local contagion in places such as Canton (southeast, 707), Beijing (237), Henan ( downtown, 225) or Chongqing (downtown, 150) .
Also today, the OPEC oil-producing countries have revised downward, by 200,000 barrels per day, their forecast for world crude oil consumption until the end of 2023 due to the economic problems caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the confinements by covid-19 in China.
In its monthly report, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) estimates that the demand for “black gold” will be an average of 99.57 million barrels per day (mbd) this year, 2.43% more than last year. , but 100,000 barrels per day (bd) less than what was calculated a month ago.
However, OPEC experts have kept output growth unchanged. World economy for 2022 and 2023, 2.7% and 2.5% respectively, on which he bases his estimates, although he warns of a high degree of “uncertainty”.
The dollarthe main exchange currency for crude oil, has also risen again this morning after the fall suffered last week after the latest inflation data, which stood at 7.7% in October after four months down.
Last week China, the world’s largest oil consumer, announced the relaxation of its policies against covid-19, among other things with a reduction in quarantines for infected contacts and for travelers arriving in the country, oil soared on Friday.
Beijing also announced on Friday the revocation of the airline sanctions mechanism, according to which the detection of covid cases among passengers upon arrival in China caused the cancellation of the route for weeks, a policy that significantly reduced flights to the Asian giant. .
