|
Brent crude futures lost 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $87.60 per barrel
by 1002 GMT, near a late-January low. U.S. crude futures were
down 41 cents, or 0.5%, at $81.53 a barrel, near a mid-January
low.
Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said the decline was "driven by
continued demand worries related to the risk of growth-killing
rate hikes from central banks battling runaway inflation and
China's continued economic struggle caused by its COVID-zero
policy".
China's Chengdu extended a lockdown for a majority of its more
than 21 million residents on Thursday to prevent further
transmission of COVID-19 while millions more in other parts the
country were told to shun travel in upcoming holidays.
Meanwhile a number of central banks around the world are
expected to begin a new round of interest rate hikes to fight
inflation.
The European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates
sharply when it meets later on Thursday. A U.S. Federal Reserve
meeting follows on Sept. 21.
Prices drew some support, however, from Russian President
Vladimir Putin's threat to halt the country's oil and gas
exports if price caps are imposed by European buyers.
The European Union proposed capping Russian gas prices only
hours later, raising the risk of rationing in some of the
world's richest countries this winter if Moscow carries out its
threat. Russia's Gazprom has already halted flows from the Nord
Stream 1 pipeline, cutting off a substantial percentage of
supply to Europe.
Elsewhere, reacting to soaring energy prices, Britain's new
Prime Minister Liz Truss will on Thursday scrap the country's
fracking ban and will seek to make more use of its reserves in
the North Sea, the Telegraph newspaper reported earlier.
JP Morgan said OPEC+ may need to cut production by 1 million
barrels per day to "stem the downward momentum in prices and
realign physical and paper markets which appear disconnected."
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies
led by Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, agreed on Monday to
cut their output by 100,000 bpd for October.
(Additional reporting by Muyu Xu in Singapore;Editing by Elaine
Hardcastle)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
