MOSCOW (MRC) -- Crude oil futures pushed higher for a second session Aug. 24, climbing 3% on the back of improved demand sentiment and a weaker US dollar, reported S&P Global.
NYMEX October WTI settled USD1.90 higher at USD67.54/b and ICE October Brent climbed USD5.41 to USD71.05/b.
"The oil market is still very tight and with Chinese demand picking up, crude prices only have one way to go after an overdone selloff," OANDA senior market analyst Ed Moya said in a note. "Crude prices should benefit from declining inventories and as the world's two largest economies start to see a return of normal crude demand."
NYMEX September RBOB was up 5.76 cents on the day to settle at USD2.1808/gal and September ULSD rallied 6.17 cents to USD2.0668/gal.
China's National Health Commission reported a single new locally transmitted case of COVID-19 Aug. 24, after having reported zero the day prior. The nation's progress against the outbreak has fueled cautious optimism that the country will dial back its strict mobility curbs.
The slowdown in cases in China has offered hope that the world's largest crude importer will see a demand recovery similar to that of India, the world's third-largest importer. Indian energy demand has steadily increased since mid-May as the country eased curbs on vehicular movements enforced during an April COVID-19 surge.
In July, India's demand for oil products rose 3% from June and was up 7.9% year on year at 16.8 million mt, or 4.3 million b/d, the oil ministry said Aug. 24. The average run for all categories of refineries in India rose to 91% in July compared with 90% in the previous month, reflecting the highest run in three months.
Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 23 issued full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for individuals 16 and older, paving the way for more expansive vaccine mandates.
Oil found further support from a weaker US dollar. The ICE US dollar Index fell to 92.897 in afternoon trading, down from 92.958 Aug. 23 and on track for a six-session low.
Meanwhile, as MRC informed earlier, Indian refiners, anticipating a lifting of US sanctions, plan to make space for the resumption of Iranian imports by reducing spot crude oil purchases in the second half of the year. The world"s third-largest oil consumer and importer halted imports from Tehran in 2019 after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 accord and re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC producer over its disputed nuclear programme.
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 1,176,860 tonnes in the first half of 2021, up by 5% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 727,160 tonnes in the first six months of 2021, up by 31% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased. Supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
MRC