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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude prices
settled higher Jan. 14 as a weaker US dollar offset reports of weakened Chinese
crude demand, reported S&P
Global.
NYMEX February WTI settled 66 cents higher at USD53.57/b, and
ICE March Brent was up 36 cents at USD56.42/b.
The US dollar turned lower
in US trading after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reaffirmed the Fed's
commitment to lower interest rates. Powell also said any tapering of asset
purchases would be telegraphed in advance.
"Fed Chair Powell affirmed the
Fed's playbook and has tentatively put an end to any taper talk," OANDA senior
market analyst Edward Moya said in a note. "Dollar weakness resumed following
Fed Chair Powell's dovish commitment and on nervous anticipation over Biden's
stimulus package announcement later today."
President-elect Biden is
expected to present a sweeping pandemic relief and stimulus plan later Jan. 14
he has said previously would be worth "trillions."
NYMEX February RBOB
settled 51 points higher at USD1.5539/gal, and February ULSD finished up 2.05
cents at USD1.6194/gal.
In its closely watched oil market report released
Jan. 14, OPEC kept its 2021 global demand forecast little changed at 95.91
million b/d, compared with 95.89 million b/d last month. The forecast is still
5.9 million b/d higher than 2020.
While rising COVID-19 infections and
additional lockdown measures are affecting most major OECD countries, "the
situation in emerging economies seems to have improved lately," OPEC
said.
But pandemic risks continue to stalk the market. Initial US
unemployment claims jumped to a five-month-high 945,000 in during the week-ended
Jan. 9, Labor Department data showed Jan. 14, exceeding market expectations of
around 800,000 claims.
A weak labor market is likely to create headwinds
for refined product demand recovery, especially gasoline. US driving activity
edged 0.2% higher in the week ended Jan. 8, according to Apple mobility data,
but was still near levels last seen in late May.
The ICE New York Harbor
RBOB crack against Brent narrowed to USD8.81/b in afternoon trading, in from
USD8.90/b the session prior.
China's crude imports fell to a 27-month low
of 9.096 million b/d, or 38.47 million mt, in December, according to General
Administration of Customs data released Jan. 14.
The more than 15%
year-on-year and month-on-month fall was sharper than had been expected, with
analysts pointing to a shortage of crude import quotas and destocking activity
as the key reasons for the decline, even as they forecast a strong rebound for
January imports.
Having imported record volumes earlier in the year when
crude prices were lower, the drop in December indicated that the country was
well stocked and imports could fall back this year, some analysts
said.
Total imports over 2020 were up 7% year on year to 10.86 million
b/d, data showed.
As MRC informed
previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP"s latest
long-term energy outlook issued in September 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic
kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the
shift to cleaner fuels.
Earlier last year, BP said the deadly coronavirus
outbreak could cut global oil
demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to
curb supplies to keep prices in check.
And in September 2019, six world"s
major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the
creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam
crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels.
The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP,
LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also
significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in
R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning
their base chemical production to renewable electricity.
Ethylene and
propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report,
PE imports to Russia decreased in January-November 2020 by 17% year on year and
reached 569,900 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the
greatest reduction in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia
increased by 21% year on year to about 202,000 tonnes in the first eleven months
of 2020. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase
in imports. |
