Another day with an undecided market

Friday was a volatile session, with oil prices reverting at the end of the day: NYMEX front month WTI went down by 0.01% to end the week at $104.69/b and the second-month ICE Brent contract settled at $107.14/b or $0.12 lower.

At first, the market continued to climb on Thursday’s comment made by the German Minister of Economy saying that its country was willing to accept a European embargo on Russian oil imports. In addition, British Petroleum joined Shell in stopping buying crude and products that are partially originated from Russia.

But, bears come back to the fore as Covid-19 outbreaks in major Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou continue and could prompt the authorities to implement new restrictions.

In the US, the number of active rigs climbed by three according to Baker Hughes.

Over the weekend China published data on factory activities in April, showing a bigger-than-expected contraction of the PMI which is dragging prices lower this morning (see macro comment).

Today, EU ministers of Energy are meeting in Brussels to talk about the embargo on Russian oil import, that could start by the end of the year according to some insights.