Oil steady as demand fears offset supply concerns

LONDON:

Oil prices were little changed on Monday as concerns over oil supply from Kazakhstan and Libya were offset by demand fears stoked by the rapid global rise in Omicron coronavirus infections.

Brent crude fell $0.11, or 0.1%, to $81.64 a barrel at 1442 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $0.13, or 0.1%, at $78.77.

Both contracts had risen by about $0.5 earlier in the session. Oil prices gained 5% last week after protests in Kazakhstan disrupted train lines and hit production at the country’s Tengiz oilfield while pipeline maintenance in Libya lowered production to 729,000 barrels per day (bpd) from a high of 1.3 million bpd last year.

Kazakhstan’s largest oil venture Tengizchevroil (TCO) is gradually increasing production to reach normal rates at the Tengiz field.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2022.

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