London — Slow global growth, rising interest rates and the blockade of COVID-19 in China are damaging demand, despite the European Union’s consideration of Russia’s oil ban to further tighten supply. Oil fell on Friday, plagued by the outlook.
This week’s International Monetary Fund has lowered expectations of global economic growth, and the Federal Reserve Board said Thursday that interest rates were “planned” to be halved at the next Fed policy meeting in May.
Brent crude was down $ 1.32 (1.2%) to $ 107.01 a barrel by 1220 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $ 1.44 (1.4%) to $ 102.35.
“At this stage, concerns over China’s growth and excessive tightening by the FRB will curb US growth and Europe will soon increase sanctions on Russia’s energy imports,” said Jeffrey Halley, an analyst at OANDA. Seems to be commensurate with the concern. “
Demand outlook for China, the world’s largest oil importer, continues to be squeezed. Shanghai has announced a new set of measures, including daily coronavirus testing from Friday, adding rigorous measures to curb the latest outbreaks.
Brent reached $ 139 a barrel last month, the highest since 2008, but both oil benchmarks were heading down more than 4% each week.
Continued support is provided by tight supply after the turmoil in Libya, losing 550,000 barrels (bpd) of production per day.
“The EU boycott of Russia’s energy will inevitably lead to higher energy prices, at least for the foreseeable future,” said Stephen Brenock, oil broker PVM. “It looks like if it were, not when.”
Alex Roller
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