MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures slipped during mid-morning trade in Asia June 11 after settling at fresh highs as the OPEC Monthly Report for June reinforced a positive demand outlook for the second half of the year, reported S&P Global.
At 10.50 am Singapore time (0250 GMT), the ICE August Brent futures contract was down 57 cents/b (0.79%) from the previous settle at USD72/b, while the NYMEX July light sweet crude contract was down 51 cents/b (0.73%) at USD69.83/b.
The ICE Brent contract settled at USD72.52/b on June 10, the highest in over a year after the front month contract settled at USD72.62/b on May 16, 2019. Additionally, the NYMEX light sweet crude contract settled at USD70.20/b on June 10, and was last higher at USD71.92/b on October 16, 2018, S&P Global Platts data showed.
"The same thing happened yesterday, with oil closing higher on day in the West, but drifting downward in Asian hours," Vandana Hari, CEO of Vanda Insights, told Platts on June 4.
"Oil is mostly being led up by growing demand optimism with regard to the Western hemisphere, as the US has mostly reopened and Europe gradually reopens," she said.
Citing data from Eurocontrol, a European air traffic management organization, analysts at ANZ on June 11 said that jet fuel markets were showing signs of recovery, with flights in Europe rising by 17% in the past two weeks.
"While Asian recovery remains a slight reason for concern, the market is not too worried as governments are adopting a new playbook of rapid responses and ringfencing clusters," Hari said.
Meanwhile, as MRC informed earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world"s third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 744,130 tonnes in the first four month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, PP deliveries to the Russian market were 523,900 tonnes in January-April 2021, up by 55% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased.
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