© Reuters. An oil pump in Texas, USA – Photo from the Reuters Archive.
New York (Reuters) – It rose on Tuesday on expectations that China will ease tight Covid-19-related restrictions, but fears that the OPEC+ group will keep its output unchanged at its next meeting capped gains.
Crude oil futures settled at $83.03 a barrel, down 16 cents, or 0.2%, while US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures increased 96 cents, or 1.2% , to settle at 78.20 dollars a barrel.
Chinese health officials have said they plan to accelerate COVID-19 vaccines for the elderly, aiming to overcome a major hurdle in efforts to ease unpopular “zero COVID” restrictions.
“The prospect of normality in an economy that is the world’s largest oil importer was enough to send oil prices higher in the first major price rebound in the past two weeks,” said Ricardo Evangelista, an analyst at ActivTrades.
Rare such protests across China over the weekend took aim at President Xi Jinping’s “zero Covid” policy, which China analysts said posed the strongest public challenge in his political history.
The declining dollar, which has an inverse relationship to oil, has helped support crude oil prices. It fell to 106.65, vacating its highest level in 20 years, as investors eagerly awaited the Federal Reserve (Central Bank of the United States) to peak interest rates early next year amid expectations of a decline in inflationary pressures.
But oil prices were impacted by fears that the OPEC+ group, made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, will not adjust its production plans at its next meeting on Dec. 4.
(Prepared by Mahmoud Abdel-Gawad for the Arab Bulletin – Edited by Mahmoud Salama)
