Roundup: Weekly oil prices mix but still show momentum

HOUSTON, march 24 (Xinhua) -- The weekly Oil prices mixed during the week ending march 22, with the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery up 0.89 percent and Brent crude Oil for May delivery down 0.19 percent.

At the end of the week, WTI settled at 59.04 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude closed at 67.03 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. WTI and Brent have increased over 30 percent and near 25 percent, respectively, so far this year.

Oil prices rose on Monday, as OPEC and its allies signaled that it would be possible to extend the supply reduction deal of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), which is set to expire in June, according to market conditions.

A ministerial panel of OPEC and its allies, meeting in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, recommended that they cancel the extraordinary meeting scheduled for April 17-18 and hold the next regular talks on June 25-26.

WTI rose 0.57 dollar to settle at 59.09 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude increased 0.38 dollar to close at 67.54 dollars a barrel.

Oil prices mixed on Tuesday, as the market was waiting for the U.S. inventories report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and OPEC hinted at a possible extension of the ongoing output cut deal into the second half of the year.

WTI decreased 0.06 dollar to settle at 59.03 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude increased 0.07 dollar to close at 67.61 dollars a barrel.

On Wednesday, Oil prices increased after EIA posted a sharp decline in crude Oil stockpiles, easing worries about potential oversupply.

In the week ending march 15, U.S. commercial crude Oil inventories decreased by 9.6 million barrels from the previous week. At 439.5 million barrels, U.S. crude Oil inventories were about 2 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.

WTI rose 0.8 dollar to settle at 59.83 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude increased 0.89 dollar to close at 68.5 dollars a barrel.

Oil prices decreased on Thursday, but the U.S. crude price reached a high level of nearly 60 dollars amid lower weekly U.S. crude Oil stockpiles and rising greenback. WTI fell 0.25 dollar to settle at 59.98 dollars a barrel, making a high level in 2019. While Brent crude decreased 0.64 dollar to close at 67.86 dollars a barrel.

However, a rising U.S. dollar has dragged down the greenback-denominated crude futures, as the U.S. Dollar Index increased on Thursday.

The U.S. Dollar Index has maintained its level around 96.4 since January within daily changing range from 95.22 to 97.67 and the index has been keeping uptrend in the last 12 months.

The Dollar Index is a measure of the value of the U.S. dollar relative to a basket of foreign currencies. Oil is mostly traded in dollars all over the world and a stronger dollar pressures the Oil demand.

Oil prices pulled back on Friday, as dismal manufacturing data of the United States and Germany gave rise to further concerns over a slowdown in both global economy and demand for crude Oil.

The flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slid to 52.5, down from 53.0 in February, marking a new low over the past 21 months, according to a report released Friday by global information provider IHS Markit.

Likewise, the PMI for Germany's manufacturing sector fell to 44.7 points from 47.6 points in march, the steepest decline since August 2012, according to the preliminary PMI index published on Friday.

WTI fell 0.94 dollar to settle at 59.04 dollars a barrel, while Brent crude decreased 0.83 dollar to close at 67.03 dollars a barrel.

In the week ending march 22, WTI saw prices climb above 60 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time in 2019, which have been supported by OPEC and its allies reaffirming their commitment to supply cutbacks and ongoing disruptions in Venezuela and Iran have also squeezed supplies.

In the near future, demand growth and geopolitical issues are important factors to affect Oil prices.

Both OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) believe the world Oil demand will keep uptrend in coming years.

In its latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) released on march 12, OPEC said world Oil demand in 2018 was estimated to have grown by 1.43 million barrels per day, down by 0.04 million barrels per day from the previous estimate amid downward revision in both OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and non-OPEC regions. And it forecast world Oil demand in 2019 will grow by 1.24 million barrels per day, unchanged from its previous MOMR projections.

As a result, total world Oil demand growth is anticipated to reach 99.96 million barrels per day, and the growth is projected to be driven by India, China as well as OECD Americas.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, senior Oil market analyst with the IEA Toril Bosoni told Xinhua at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit that the biggest increase of imports, both Oil and gas, is coming from Asia, in particular China. "Even the Chinese economy is slowing, the Oil demand is slowing because of the environmental policy, the demand continues to grow," she said.

According to Bosoni, there is not enough Oil from the Middle East to support the growth in China and Asia, more and more of the Oil flows will come from the United States and Latin America to China.

Moreover, IEA believes geopolitical issue is becoming an increasing concern over global energy market.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told reporters at the CERAWeek that geopolitical issue "is something of concern to Intentional Energy Agency as we wanted to see Oil markets is only an Oil market," adding that this situation was rarely emphasized by his agency in the past.

He said, "We are seeing that geopolitical concerns casting an increasing shadow on the Oil markets today and tomorrow," referring to the developments in Venezuela, Iran, Libya and other areas.