Around 8:10 am, Brent was trading at 84.65 dollars, a small increase of 0.21%, following having suffered a slight drop of 0.23% the day before, to 84.47 dollars.
Oil prices remained stable on Friday, continuing their hiatus following having recently returned to all-time highs posted during the pandemic. Annual imports of black gold from China, the global engine of demand for hydrocarbons, fell 5.4% last year, falling for the first time since 2001.
Around 8:10 a.m., a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in March, the main contract traded in London, was trading at 84.65 dollars, a small increase of 0.21%, following having suffered a slight drop the day before. 0.23%, to $ 84.47. That of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in February rose imperceptibly by 0.05% to 82.16 dollars, following suffering a decline of 0.62% the day before, to 82.12 dollars.
Black gold prices remained close to the levels presented at the end of October 2021, of $ 86.70 for Brent and $ 85.41 for WTI, highs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
China’s annual decline in crude oil imports reflects Beijing’s tough measures once morest the refining sector to curb excess domestic fuel production, while refiners cut massive inventories. The Middle Empire has been the engine of global oil demand for the past decade, with its share of import growth hovering at 44% since 2015, when Beijing began issuing import quotas to refiners. independent.
Increase in December
In December 2021 alone, oil inflows reached 46.14 million tonnes, an increase of nearly 20%, the first year-on-year monthly increase since April, as independent refiners rushed to use 2021 quotas, according to customs data. The December inflow, equivalent to regarding 10.87 million barrels per day, is the highest daily amount since March.
The drop for 2021 compares to an average annual growth rate of imports of nearly 10% since 2015. In 2020, companies built up massive inventories once morest a backdrop of the lowest oil prices in decades and rapid recovery in fuel demand following the first effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But in 2021, refiners and traders reduced inventories amid rising prices and slowing growth in demand for fuel. Rising crude oil prices and “the government’s comprehensive strategy to cool the turmoil in the commodities market helped lower crude oil imports last year,” said Mia Geng, analyst at consulting firm FGE. .
In a lagging market, prices for prompt delivery are higher than in the coming months, discouraging companies from stockpiling oil. Liu Yuntao, an analyst with Energy Aspects, estimates that 70 to 90 million barrels of crude oil were pulled from inventory throughout the past year, including in a rare public auction of the strategic reserves of oil in September.
Record for gas
At the same time, imports of natural gas, including pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), increased 19.9% in 2021 from the previous year to a record 121.36 million. tonnes, according to customs data.
This growth, which accelerated from the 5.3% increase in the previous year, was supported by robust LNG purchases from China, particularly in the first half of 2021, which increased saw the country overtake Japan as the world’s largest buyer of this super-refrigerated fuel. Reference market in Europe, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) took 7.62% to 91.97 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
