Oil falls again under pressure from the prospect of falling demand

Los oil prices they fell again on Friday, choked by the prospect of a contraction in demand, and pressured by signs of rapprochement between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The price of the barrel of Brent North Sea for January delivery lost 2.40% to $87.62 in London. In 10 days, Brent lost more than 11 percent. Meanwhile, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December it gave up 1.91%, to 80.08 dollars in New York.

The market maintains its “concern” about Chinese demand, in a context of increasing coronavirus cases, “which make an easing of health restrictions unlikely,” Commerzbank analysts said.

The Chinese National Security Commission (NHC) reported on Friday a new peak in cases since the end of April, with 22,991 new infections. The rate of infections is more than double that of a week ago.

For Phil Flynn, of Price Futures Group, operators generally see a moderation in demand due to the adjustment of rates by the Federal Reserve (Fed) to combat inflation.

According to this analyst, the rapprochement between United States and Saudi Arabia push prices down.

The White House said on Friday that a recent resolution by the Joe Biden administration granting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman legal immunity for the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has no bearing on bilateral relations.

The reaction of the White House It comes after Amnesty International criticized the Joe Biden government for granting immunity to the prince and described the act as “a profound betrayal”.

A part of the operators speculate that in return for this opening by Washington, OPEC and its allies within Opec+ could increase their production at their next meeting, on December 4.

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