Friday 30 July 2021

Oil climbs, notches fourth monthly gain on growing demand | Reuters

Oil climbs, notches fourth monthly gain on growing demand | Reuters

Oil prices edged higher on Friday, with global benchmark Brent posting a fourth monthly gain, with demand growing faster than supply and vaccinations expected to alleviate the impact of a resurgence in COVID-19 infections across the world.

Brent crude futures for September , which expired on Friday, rose 28 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $76.33 a barrel. The more active contract for October ended the session up 31 cents at $75.41 per barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.5%, to end the session at $73.95 a barrel.

Both benchmarks notched gains of more than 2% for the week, while Brent rose 1.6% in July, its fourth straight monthly increase. WTI was unchanged for the month.

Even with coronavirus cases rising in the United States, all around Asia and parts of Europe, analysts said higher vaccination rates would limit the need for the harsh lockdowns that gutted demand during the peak of the pandemic last year.

#Saudi economy minister: Opportunities will exceed $3trln within 5 years | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Saudi economy minister: Opportunities will exceed $3trln within 5 years | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim said that there is a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic that the use of solutions based on the Fourth Industrial Revolution revealed the reality of the widening gap between the leading economies and the rest of the world.

“Despite the significant progress made since the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and during the pandemic, the catalyst for further economic growth could be seizing part of the opportunities that exceed $3 trillion over the next five years and their multiplier effects,” he said while addressing a session of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum in Riyadh on Thursday.

The minister stressed that the Kingdom still has a lot of work to do to raise its rank in the Global Innovation Index, and plans to be in the leading position among its counterparts in the G20. He explained that this leads to the factors that shape the future role of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Center, as the center enjoys the convergence of the growing role of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in providing solutions to global challenges with the momentum and potential of Saudi Arabia’s vision and its impact locally and globally. This is in addition to the Kingdom’s growing global leadership role, which is based on a solid legacy of work with global partners to overcome global challenges and its pioneering vision and massive transformation.

“The center should take advantage of these possibilities, to become a center for work on discovering, discussing and providing comprehensive solutions to global challenges as well as local challenges that are of the same level of importance.”

The minister said that COVID-19 has created an intense need for data, and repeatedly established evidence-based policies through innovative technical solutions. “The epidemic has become an enabler for the accelerated development of leading technologies, and the best evidence for this is the global market outlook. In its latest report on technology and innovation, UNCTAD predicted that the market for leading technologies would become $3.2 trillion in 2025, a jump of nearly 10 times than the levels of 2018,” he added.

Oil prices drop, but on track for weekly gain | Reuters

Oil prices drop, but on track for weekly gain | Reuters

Oil prices fell on Friday but remained on track to post steep weekly gains with demand growing faster than supply, while vaccinations are expected to alleviate the impact of a resurgence in COVID-19 infections across the globe.

Brent crude futures for September , which expires on Friday, dropped 56 cents, or 0.7%, to $75.49 a barrel by 0640 GMT, following a 1.75% jump on Thursday.

The more active Brent contract for October was down 64 cents, or 0.9% to $74.46 per barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 60 cents, or 0.8%, to $73.02 a barrel, whittling down a 1.7% rise from Thursday.

"Oil prices pulled back slightly amid cautious sentiment across the Asia Pacific markets as investors weighed virus concerns and weaker-than-expected U.S. GDP and jobs data," said Margaret Yang, a strategist at Singapore-based DailyFX.

Oil settles up, Brent tops $76 as U.S. supplies tighten more | Reuters

Oil settles up, Brent tops $76 as U.S. supplies tighten more | Reuters

Oil prices rose on Thursday, with global benchmark Brent topping $76 a barrel, as supplies in the United States tightened further after shrinking to the smallest levels since January 2020.

Brent crude oil futures settled up $1.31 a barrel, or 1.75% at $76.05 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures settled up $1.23, or 1.7% at $73.62 a barrel.

Data from information provider Genscape indicated that the inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub have continued to draw, traders said on Thursday. Cushing stockpiles were seen at 36.299 million barrels by Tuesday afternoon, down 360,917 barrels from July 23.

The Cushing inventory data came a day after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that domestic crude inventories fell by 4.1 million barrels in the week to July 23.