Doha: Oil prices on Friday fell after US consumer prices rose more than expected and China imposed a new COVID-19 blockade. Brent crude fell $ 1.06 and settled at $ 122.01 a barrel. US West Texas intermediate crude fell 84 cents and settled at $ 120.67 a barrel. Both benchmarks still recorded weekly rises, with Brent at 1.9 percent and WTI at 1.5 percent.
Oil prices fell alongside Wall Street stock prices following news of a surge in US consumer prices in May. Gasoline prices have hit record highs, food costs have skyrocketed, leading to the largest annual rise in about 40 years. It raises expectations that the Federal Reserve will strengthen its policies more aggressively.
Meanwhile, the number of US oil rigs, which indicates future supply, increased from 6 to 580 this week, the highest since March 2020. Shanghai and Beijing returned to the COVID-19 alert on Thursday. Part of China’s largest economic hub, Shanghai, has imposed new blockade restrictions and the city has released a series of mass trials targeting millions of residents.
Meanwhile, the most populous district of China’s capital has announced the closure of entertainment venues.
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices fell last week due to a new blockade in Shanghai, indicating lower demand from China, but summer procurement in other Asian countries has recovered. ..
The news that Freeport LNG, one of the largest export plants producing liquefied natural gas in the United States, was closed for at least three weeks did not have a significant impact on Asian prices as most of the cargo was destined for Europe. It was.
The shutdown of the plant, which provides about 20% of US LNG processing capacity, began on Wednesday with an explosion at the Texas Gulf facility.
The average LNG price for delivery to Northeast Asia in July was estimated at $ 23.5 per meter of British Thermal Unit (mmBtu), down $ 1.25 from the previous week.
Meanwhile, industry sources say the outage of Freeport is consistent with Nord Stream 1 maintenance and some Norwegian gas maintenance measures, which could allow Europe to withdraw some volumes from storage. That is.
