MOSCOW (MRC) -- Oil prices rose slightly on Friday and posted their biggest weekly gain since late August, with market sentiment buoyed by easing concerns over the Omicron coronavirus variant's impact on global economic growth and fuel demand, reported Reuters.
The Brent and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude benchmarks each posted gains of about 8% this week, their first weekly gain in seven, even after a brief bout of profit-taking.
Brent futures settled up 73 cents, or 1%, at USD75.15 a barrel, after falling 1.9% on Thursday. WTI rose 73 cents, or 1%, to USD71.67 after sliding 2% in a volatile session the previous day.
"Oil traders are coming out of their shell-shock and feeling more bullish as they recalibrate their demand expectations in the aftermath of the Omicron variation of the coronavirus," saidPhil Flynn, senior analyst price futures group in Chicago.
US consumer prices rose further in November to produce the largest year-on-year rise since 1982, government data showed, adding to bullish sentiment on oil demand.
Earlier in the week the oil market had recovered about half the losses suffered since the Omicron outbreak on Nov. 25, with prices lifted by early studies suggesting that three doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine offers protection against the Omicron variant.
"The oil market has thus rightly priced out the 'worst-case scenario' again, but it would be well-advised to leave a certain residual risk to oil demand in place," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
Keeping a lid on prices are faltering domestic air traffic in China, owing to tighter travel restrictions, and weaker consumer confidence after repeated small outbreaks. Ratings agency Fitch downgraded property developers China Evergrande Group and Kaisa Group, saying they had defaulted on offshore bonds. That reinforced fears of a potential slowdown in China's property sector, as well as the broader economy of the world's biggest oil importer.
As MRC informed previously, the average utilisation rate at China's four state-owned refiners fell to a five-month low of 80.6% in October from 81.5% in September while independent refiners also maintained run rates at low levels due to feedstock shortage. These would likely lead the country's crude throughputs to extend the downward trend in October from the 17-month low of 13.7 million b/d, or 56.07 million mt, in September, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The four state oil companies -- Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC and Sinochem - plan to process a total 7.67 million b/d of crudes in October, against their nameplate capacity of 9.52 million b/d, Platts data showed. This compared with a planned throughput of 7.7 million b/d in September. In November, the state-run refiners plan to lift throughput from the low base in October to boost gasoil and gasoline supplies for meeting domestic demand, refining sources said.
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 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
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