- Oil trades below $90/Bbl amid concerns about weaker demand
- Major Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Shenzhen, ramped up COVID testing and introduced new curbs amid a spike in infections
- China's "zero Covid" policy weighed on the market amid anticipation of weaker fuel demand
- Further weighing on oil prices, the IMF warned on Tuesday that the risk of a global recession was increasing
- The fund cut its global growth forecast for 2023, citing the combined effects of rising interest rates and inflation
- The U.S. Dollar strengthened after the IMF forecast
- An expensive dollar (DXY Index) can cause foreign buyers of dollar-denominated commodities to pay more for the same amount of goods
- Poland’s pipeline operator, PERN, discovered a leak in a crude pipeline carrying oil from Russia to Europe. According to Polish authorities, the leak was accidental (BBG)
- Poland’s lead investigator in charge of strategic energy infrastructure Mateusz Berger said that the explosion "can't be compared" to the Nord Stream incident and that "it was probably an accident."
- The leak has affected one of two strands of the northern leg of the Druzhba pipeline network, which supplies Germany and Poland
- European authorities are on high alert for any attacks on infrastructure since the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September
- The Biden administration yesterday warned that there would be consequences for Saudi Arabia over OPEC+ oil production cuts announced last week (BBG)
- “There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia,” said President Biden in an interview with CNN
- The President further said that it is time for the U.S. to reevaluate its relationship with Saudi Arabia
- OPEC+'s decision was "purely economic," according to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Farhan, who also sought to defuse escalating tensions by saying that Riyadh and the US have a "strategic partnership."
- Additionally, Putin said yesterday that their decisions are "not targeted at anyone" and that they have no intention of "causing issues for anyone."
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