{"id":4940,"date":"2023-04-20T13:30:52","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T13:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/?p=4940"},"modified":"2023-04-20T13:36:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T13:36:11","slug":"oil-prices-continue-to-fall-as-demand-concerns-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/4940\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Prices Continue To Fall As Demand Concerns Persist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oil prices continued to trend lower in morning trade in Asia, with WTI heading toward $78 and Brent moving closer to $82.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the EIA reporting a sizeable inventory draw of 4.6 million barrels for the week to April 14th<\/sup>, traders were focused on demand concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fed has repeatedly indicated that is it not done with rate hikes, which traders see as countering any growing demand from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand worries outweighed supply concerns this week to push down oil prices, reinforced by heightened expectations of more U.S. rate hikes that lifted the greenback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In morning trade in Asia oil was down for the third day out of the last four, despite the EIA reporting an inventory draw of\u00a04.6 million barrels\u00a0for the week to April 14, compared to a modest build in crude oil inventories for the previous week, at 600,000 barrels. For the week before that, however, the EIA had estimated a sizable draw of 3.7 million barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of reacting to the draw, oil traders apparently were more concerned with other news or rather non-news: the Fed has indicated repeatedly that it is not done with rate hikes. It seems there are expectations for at least one more rate hike, to be announced next month before the Fed pauses with the inflation-control measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the Fed\u2019s commentary indicates further rate hikes, economic troubles look inevitable,\u201d Priyanka Sachdeva, an analyst at brokerage Phillip Nova,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Bloomberg. \u201cThe only ray of hope here is China\u2019s reemergence, which is expected to be significant enough to outweigh the dented demand from the West.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“WTI crude is back below the $80 level and it could continue drifting lower if the strong dollar trade resumes,” OANDA\u2019s Edward Moya\u00a0told<\/a> Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, the gloom and doom that oil traders appear to see for the U.S. economy has proven stronger than optimism about China, which earlier this week pushed prices higher for a while after it reported stronger-than-expected GDP growth data. Yet that wasn\u2019t the full picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Though China reported better-than-expected GDP data, both industrial production and fixed asset investments fell short of consensus data, which did not help (in) boosting oil prices,” CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng told Reuters.<\/p>\n

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