Oil prices rebound on tight inventories

Singapore — Oil rebounded from a weak start on Tuesday as worries over tight inventories underpinned prices, though optimism was limited by fears over demand after a pickup in Covid-19 cases in Europe.

Brent futures added 61c, or 0.74%, to $82.66 a barrel, by 4.21am GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 54c, or 0.67%, to $81.42 a barrel.

“At these oil prices, supply is going to grow but it might take six months and inventories have come down so low. We don’t have a safety margin,” said Tony Nunan, a Tokyo-based risk manager at Mitsubishi. “We have very low inventory levels and if we have a very cold winter and Opec is still sluggish at increasing supplies that could push oil prices up.”

Russian crude grades sold in Asia fetched the highest spot premiums in 22 months for cargoes loading in January, extending gains for a fourth straight month as robust demand and firm refining margins support prices, trade sources said on Tuesday.

Still, worries about demand destruction due to Covid-19 weighed. Europe has again become the epicentre of the pandemic, prompting some governments to consider reimposing lockdowns, while China is battling the spread of its biggest outbreak caused by the Delta variant.

Oil carter Opec last week cut its world oil demand forecast for the fourth quarter by 330,000 barrels a day from last month’s forecast, as high energy prices hampered economic recovery from the pandemic.

Fears of declining demand come as supplies are expected to rise.

Last week, US energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for a third week in a row, encouraged by a 65% increase in US crude prices so far this year.

US shale production in December is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels of 8.68-million barrels a day, according to Rystad Energy.

Money managers raised their net long US crude futures and options positions in the week to November 9, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Monday.

The speculator group raised its futures and options position in New York and London by 11,328 contracts to 353,807 during the period.

Reuters