Doha: Oil prices settled down more than 2% on Friday as investors fretted about weaker Chinese demand and a potential slowing in the pace of US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
Brent crude futures settled down $1.52, or 2.09%, to $71.04 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) settled down $1.68, or 2.45%, at $67.02, noted Al-Attiyah Foundation in its Weekly Energy Market Review.
For the week, Brent fell around 4%, while WTI declined around 5%. China’s oil refiners in October processed 4.6% less crude than a year earlier because of plant closures and reduced operating rates at smaller independent refiners, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.
The country’s factory output growth slowed last month and demand woes in its property sector showed few signs of abating, adding to investors’ concerns over the economic health of the world’s largest crude importer.
US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to end China’s most-favored-nation trading status and impose tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% - much higher than those imposed during his first term. Oil prices also fell this week as major forecasters indicated slowing global demand growth.
The IEA forecasts global oil supply to exceed demand by more than 1 million barrels per day in 2025 even if cuts remain in place from OPEC+. OPEC, meanwhile, cut its forecast for global oil demand growth for 2024 & 2025, highlighting weakness in China, India and other regions.
Asian spot LNG rose slightly last week tracking European gas markets, while warm weather forecasts, strong storage inventories and weak economic data in China helped keep demand muted.
The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast Asia rose slightly to $13.60 per million mmBtu from $13.40 per mmBtu last week, industry sources estimated.
