Brent crude <LCOc1> was up $1.13, or 2.1%, at $55.14 per barrel
at 1118 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) <CLc1> rose 82
cents, or 1.64%, to $50.76 a barrel.
According to data through Tuesday, the growth rate of new
coronavirus cases in China has slowed to the lowest since Jan.
30. Still, international experts remained cautious over
forecasting when the outbreak might reach a peak.
"As the growth rate of new cases has decreased ... that has
improved the (market) sentiment," said Kim Kwang-rae,
commodities analyst at Samsung Futures in Seoul.
Travel restrictions to and from China and quarantines have cut
fuel usage. The two biggest Chinese refiners have said they will
reduce their processing by about 940,000 barrels per day (bpd)
as a result of the consumption drop, or about 7% of their 2019
processing runs.
The world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has reduced crude
supplies to some Asian buyers in March, sources said.
The demand concerns from the outbreak pushed Brent and WTI to
their lowest in 13 months on Monday. Both benchmarks are down
more than 20% from highs reached in January.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday cut
its global oil demand growth forecast for this year by 310,000
bpd on lower consumption in China.
"Front month prices are down around 20% since the start of the
outbreak, with Brazilian, West African and Russian crudes - all
popular with independent (Chinese) refiners in Shandong - under
pressure," said Roger Diwan, vice president of financial
services at HIS Markit, in a note.
On the supply side, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries has recommended a further cut of 600,000 bpd last week
to stem the oil price fall. OPEC is now waiting for a response
from ally Russia whether Moscow would help execute the cuts.
U.S. crude inventories rose by 6 million barrels in the week to
Feb. 7 to 438.9 million barrels, beating analysts' expectations
for an increase of 3 million barrels, data from industry group
the American Petroleum Institute showed.
Official EIA data is due on Wednesday at 1030 EDT (1530 GMT).
(Reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and David
Evans)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|