Oil declines on expectations of Gaza truce and economic data from China

The prices of oil They eased on Tuesday as traders reacted to discussions of a possible truce in the Gaza Strip, dismal economic data from China and the prospect of surpluses still weighing on the market.

The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in February, lost 0.97% to $73.19.

Its US equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in January, fell 0.89%, to $70.08.

At 8 a.m., the average speed in Lima was just 17 kilometers per hour, while at 7 p.m. it decreased to 15.4 kilometers.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas declared Tuesday that talks in Qatar aimed at a truce agreement and the release of hostages in Gaza were “serious and positive.”

According to a source close to the negotiations, an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha on Monday to meet with the mediators, which Israel has not confirmed.

The United States said there is “cautious optimism” and “realism” about the prospect of achieving a truce in the Gaza Strip.

“Every time the market receives positive news of a potential ceasefire, it puts downward pressure on prices,” Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group told AFP.

The beginning of the week partially erases the gains of the previous one, which saw black gold rise with the announcements of new or future sanctions on crude oil exports from Russia and Iran.

On the other hand, retail sales advanced only 3% in a year in November in China, the world’s largest importer of oil, the national statistics office announced on Monday, a significant slowdown compared to 4.8% in October.

Furthermore, “everything (…) indicates that the market is heavily oversupplied with respect to current demand, so there are no real fundamental factors,” according to Stephen Schork of Schork Group.

The report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), published last Thursday, shows “a supply surplus of 950,000 barrels per day in 2025”, and even of “1.4 million barrels per day” if Opec+ returns to put a part of its stocks on the market starting in April.