- Oil trades lower as the market mulls China’s demand recovery
- Feb ’23 WTI fell by nearly $1.50 this morning to trade below $80/Bbl
- China's President Xi warned of challenges in the nation's fight against COVID-19 in his New Year's address on Saturday
- Although many cities have seen an increase in hospitalizations since reopening began last month, President Xi did express some optimism, saying that the "light of hope is right in front of us"
- However, some mobility measures in significant urban regions have increased, indicating that the wave of Covid infections may have peaked
- The USD Index (DXY – a proxy for U.S. Dollar strength against a basket of six international currencies) relatively strengthened to its recent lows
- A stronger dollar (DXY Index) can cause foreign buyers of dollar-denominated commodities to pay more for the same amount of goods
- Feb ’23 WTI fell by nearly $1.50 this morning to trade below $80/Bbl
- Kuwait’s crude exports fall to the lowest in 14 months (BBG)
- According to Bloomberg's tanker tracking data, total crude exports decreased 7.4% last month to 1.8 MMBbl/d from 1.98 MMBbl/d in November
- Shipments to Kuwait's top buyer China plummeted to their lowest level since October, and they also hit a multi-month low for India
- The CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corp said in an interview early last month that customers were hesitant to increase oil imports in 2023 due to economic uncertainties