RIYADH: Oil prices rose on Tuesday on expectations of potential economic stimulus by China, healthy demand in the rest of Asia and a drop in US crude stockpiles.
Brent crude futures rose 66 cents, or 0.78 percent, to $84.84 a barrel at 11.50 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate futures gained 69 cents, or 0.87 percent, to $80.43 a barrel.
Data from China showed consumer inflation in March at its slowest pace since September 2021, suggesting demand weakness persists amid an uneven economic recovery, which spurred expectations Beijing may take steps to boost growth.
Britain’s Harbor Energy, BP to develop Viking CCS project
Harbor Energy, Britain’s largest oil and gas producer, said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with BP to develop the Viking Carbon Capture and Storage project.
Harbor will continue as operator of Viking CCS with a 60 percent interest, with BP acquiring a 40 percent non-operated share, the company said in a statement.
India’s March fuel demand soars on robust economic activity
India’s fuel consumption jumped to a record high in March, data showed on Monday, fueled by robust economic activity in the world’s third-biggest oil consumer.
Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, rose by 5 percent from a year earlier to 4.83 million barrels per day, the highest recorded in data going back to 1998 from the Indian Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Sales of bitumen jumped 16.5 percent from February, while jet fuel sales rose more than 10.4 percent to 0.69 million tons and diesel sales were up 11.4 percent to 7.80 million tons.
On an annual basis, sales of gasoline, or petrol, rose 6.8 percent to 3.1 million tons in March, while cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas, sales slipped 2.7 percent to 2.41 million tons.
Citi’s Morse says Brent expected to fall below $80 per barrel
Benchmark Brent crude prices are poised to fall below $80 per barrel despite the recent output cuts announced by the Organization of Petroleum Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+.
“The market has changed from a point of massive oversupply in our judgment to one of market tightness, but still with the risks to the downside. We won’t have the underlying fundamentals of a price crash but we think prices could go down much below the preferred OPEC+ price of $80/b, to $70/b and even touch below that,” Morse told Bloomberg TV.
(With input from Reuters)
