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An aerial view of a drone of a crude oil storage facility on April 23, 2020 in Cushing, Oklahoma.
Tom Pennington | fake images
Oil fell Tuesday as California tightened its pandemic lockdown over Christmas and COVID-19 cases spiked in the United States and Europe, offsetting optimism that emerged about vaccine advances.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures closed 16 cents, or 0.3%, lower at $ 45.60 a barrel. Brent crude gained 7 cents to trade at $ 48.86 a barrel.
Oil prices rose briefly after the world’s first fully tested COVID-19 vaccine was administered to a grandmother in Britain, but investors quickly refocused on declining demand for fuel caused by the pandemic.
“Much of the weakness has been associated with some slippage in risk appetite now that most of the favorable vaccine news has been scrapped to force the market to focus on a significant increase in the coronavirus case count. “said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates.
A sharp increase in coronavirus cases globally has led to a series of renewed closures, including strict measures in California, the most populous state in the US, Germany and South Korea.
France may have to delay the removal of some closure restrictions next week, government sources said, following signs that the downward trend in new cases had flattened after stores were allowed to resume. open late last month.
Investors were also closely watching US lawmakers’ efforts to pass a new economic stimulus package needed to boost job growth and energy demand, and Friday was seen as a potential deadline to avoid a government shutdown. .
The OPEC + group of oil producers is likely to hold its next meeting on January 4, after agreeing last week to increase oil production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) next month.
US crude oil production is expected to fall by 910,000 bpd in 2020 to 11.34 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration said, a larger decline than its previous forecast of a drop. of 860,000 bpd.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute to be released on Tuesday and from the United States government on Wednesday are expected to show that US crude stocks fell last week while stocks of refined products rose, according to a preliminary survey of analysts from Reuters.
