MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures dipped in mid-morning trade in Asia Nov. 1 following weak economic data out of China and Beijing's announcement that it would release state oil product reserves to the domestic market, reported S&P Global.
At 11:01 am Singapore time (0301 GMT), the ICE January Brent futures contract was down 23 cents/b (0.27%) from the previous close at US83.49/b, while the NYMEX December light sweet crude contract fell 41 cents/b (0.49%) at USD83.16/b.
"Oil markets got off to a rocky start after weak weekend official China PMI releases," said OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley.
China's manufacturing PMI fell to 49.2 in October from 49.6 in September -- its second straight month of decline, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Oct. 31. Any number below 50 indicates a contraction of activity.
IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong said the figures underscored the fragility of the global economic recovery underway.
"PMI figures out of China over the weekend continue to highlight the weakness in economic conditions. A confluence of risk factors continues to be reflected on the Chinese economy, such as the global supply chain shortages and ongoing energy crisis," Yeap said.
China's National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said Oct. 31. that it will release state oil product reserves to the domestic market to offset a supply shortage and stabilize prices in certain regions. The announcement shows the government's efforts to ensure domestic supplies and to control inflation by capping energy prices. It did not announce the volume to be released or targeted regions.
Latest Commitments of Traders data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed investors have turned sour on the outlook for oil prices, with speculative net longs in the NYMEX oil contract posting its first decline in four weeks as of Oct. 26. Speculative net longs in the NYMEX contract fell by 5,992 lots to 340,844 in the week to Oct. 26, CFTC data showed.
OANDA's Halley said oil prices will struggle to trade higher this week amid a slew of key dates and economic releases, including an OPEC+ meeting on Nov. 4 and a meeting of the US Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee on Nov. 3.
As MRC informed before, US commercial crude stocks fell 3.48 million barrels to 413.96 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 17, to more than 8% below the five-year average, Energy Information Administration data showed. Stocks were last lower Oct. 5, 2018.
We remind that in late August, 2021, US crude stocks dropped sharply while petroleum products supplied by refiners hit an all-time record despite the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to Aug. 27 to 425.4 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.1 million-barrel drop. Product supplied by refineries, a measure of demand, rose to 22.8 million barrels per day in the most recent week. That's a one-week record, and signals strength in consumption for diesel, gasoline and other fuels by consumers and exporters.
We also remind that US crude oil production is expected to fall by 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.12 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 210,000 bpd.
MRC