The price of Texas Intermediate Oil (WTI) closed this Friday with a rise of 1.41%, to 70.6 dollars a barrel, and concludes the week positively thanks to the boost received from an improvement in expectations about demand from China.
At the close of the session in the New York Mercantile ExchangeUS crude oil contracts for February delivery gained 98 cents.
In the weekly count, WTI has risen around 1.5% driven by the hope that the chinese demand -the largest crude oil importer in the world- recovers after a series of stimuli recently promoted by its authorities to reactivate the economy.
Beijing has agreed to issue treasury bonds worth 3 trillion yuan (about $411 billion) next year; and the World Bank thus raised its economic growth forecasts for China in 2024 and 2025 this week.
On the other side of the scale, some experts fear that the possible resumption of trade wars between the United States and China will push down demand and prices for crude oil.
On the other hand, the premium of geopolitical risk arising from tensions in the Middle East, which currently benefits the oil prices“will probably dissipate over time,” analyst Samer Hasn, of the firm XS.com, told The Wall Street Jornal.
Chinese economy
In his opinion, the market “should continue to focus on the recovery of the Chinese economy and the rebound in global crude oil demand” to move forward in the coming months.
Also, according to the American Petroleum Institutecrude oil inventories in the United States fell by 3.2 million barrels during the week ended December 20, compared to the cut of 1.9 million that was expected, which has boosted the mood of operators in a week that has seen little trading volume due to Christmas Eve. EFE
