The global price of a barrel of oil decreased by more than 1.5%, at the close of trading today, Friday, January 27 (2023), due to profit-taking and an increase in Russian exports despite Western sanctions.
Oil prices rose earlier in the trading, supported by stronger-than-expected US economic growth and hopes for a recovery in Chinese demand, with coronavirus cases and deaths declining from peak levels last month.
The weekly report of Baker Hughes showed that oil rigs in the United States decreased by 4 rigs during the past week, to fall to 609 rigs.
The global price of a barrel of oil today
At the end of the session, the futures prices for Brent crude, the benchmark for March 2023 delivery, fell by 0.9%, to reach $86.66 per barrel.
The price of US West Texas crude futures – for March 2023 delivery – fell by 1.6%, to $79.68 a barrel, according to data seen by the specialized energy platform.
Oil prices ended trading yesterday, Thursday, January 26, up by 1.5%, with optimism about Chinese demand, and after US crude inventories jumped less than expected.
The price of a barrel of oil globally recorded weekly losses for the first time in 4 weeks; Both crudes (Brent and West Texas Intermediate) fell by 1.1% and 2.4%, respectively
Oil market conditions
Swiss bank UBS data showed that total Russian oil exports rose by about 190 thousand barrels per day to 4.525 million barrels per day from January 1 to January 16 (2023), after a decrease of 265 thousand barrels per day during the previous month.
On the other hand, OPEC + delegates will meet next week; To review crude production levels, amid steady support for crude prices from strong demand for jet fuel and diesel.
The US Federal Reserve will also decide to raise interest rates again, as inflation slows and GDP improves.
US crude inventories capped the rise in the price of a barrel of oil globally, after data showed a build-up of 4.2 million barrels in inventories at Cushing, the pricing center for oil futures contracts on the New York Stock Exchange, earlier this week.
US oil stocks
“The short-term bullish factor is that the recent outage in US refineries helped push up gasoline prices, even though US crude stocks recorded their highest level in 16 months,” said CMC Markets analyst Tina Ting.
Ting added that the oil markets are still supported by widespread optimism in the return of the Chinese stock markets; The reopening of Chinese stock markets continues to play a major role in boosting demand expectations, according to Reuters.
COVID-19 cases in China are down 72% from their peak early this month, while daily deaths among hospitalized COVID-19 patients are down 79% from their peak; This indicates the return of the Chinese economy to normal and the strengthening of expectations of recovery in oil demand.
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