Daily Times

Crude oil futures prices went down on Friday following a stronger US dollar and uncertainty about any US intervention to curb rising oil prices, including releasing some of its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

At 1505 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $0.44 (-0.53 percent) to reach $82.43 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $80.90 a barrel, down by $0.69 (-0.85 percent).

The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $83.69 a barrel with an increase of 1.27 percent, Arab Light was available at $82.23 with a 0.39 percent decrease, and the price of Russian Sokol slipped to $83.38 with a decrease of 0.20 percent.

Meanwhile, Opec, the crude oil exporters’ group, maintained its outlook for oil demand in 2022 and said it expected consumption to surge above pre-pandemic levels next year, according to its latest monthly market report. The group maintained its oil demand forecast for next year at 4.2 million barrels per day from the previous month’s forecast to reach 100.6 million bpd, amid continuing growth for the global economy.

However, Opec revised demand growth in some countries owing to macroeconomic projections and other challenges. Higher demand growth in OECD Europe (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) will be offset by “softer growth in industrial fuel demand in OECD America and Latin America”, it said on Thursday.

But the group trimmed its outlook for 2021 because of slower-than-anticipated demand from China, the world’s second largest economy, and India, one of the top crude consumers in the world. It also expects a slowdown in the pace of economic recovery in the fourth quarter of 2021 owing to higher energy prices.