- Oil has a choppy start to the week as the market continues to weigh the potential hit to demand from an economic slowdown
- WTI is at $88.05/Bbl, down 96c, as concerns about a recession hitting oil demand weighed on prices
- Both WTI and Brent recouped some losses on Friday after jobs growth in the U.S., the world's top oil consumer, unexpectedly accelerated in July
- China's oil imports in July showed some tentative signs of a demand recovery after a steep decline earlier this year owing to strong Covid-19 restrictions
- July's crude imports increased by 1% from June's four-year low to 8.8 MMBbl/d, although they were still 9.5% lower year-over-year, according to customs data
- The increase in inflows in July was likely contributed by independent refineries increasing their crude imports by 25.4% to 3.16 MMBbl/d in July from 2.52 MMBbl/d in June
- Goldman Sachs maintains its Brent outlook for 2023 at $125/Bbl while lowering its 3Q22 and 4Q22 forecasts to $110/Bbl and $125/Bbl, respectively, down from $140/Bbl and $130/bbl (Bloomberg)
- "We believe that the case for higher oil prices remains strong, even assuming all these negative shocks play out, with the market remaining in a larger deficit than we expected in recent months," said GS analysts in an Aug. 7 note to clients
- The price of Brent dropped by about 9% last week, while WTI dropped by nearly 10%. Futures are currently at their lowest in six months