Global oil prices rise as demand in China increases

MANILA: Oil prices rose on Thursday as China, the world's largest oil importer, anticipated a spike in oil demand.

At 09:46 a.m. local time, the price of international benchmark Brent crude was $85.85 per barrel, 0.55% higher versus the previous trading session's closing price of $85.38 per barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $79.19 per barrel at the same time, up 0.76% from the previous session's closing price of $78.59 per barrel.

China's economy is anticipated to rebound following the easing of strict COVID-19 restrictions and the opening of its borders to international travel.

With this, it is also anticipated that China's oil demand would increase.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China's projected growth of approximately 900,000 barrels per day in 2023 will account for the majority of the increase in global oil demand.

According to the IEA's monthly oil market report released on Wednesday, the global oil demand is expected to increase by 1.96 million barrels per day this year, reaching a record 101.9 million barrels per day.

However, price hikes were restrained by a higher-than-anticipated increase in US oil inventories.

The data issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that US commercial crude oil inventories grew by 3.6% during the week ending February 10.

Contrary to the market expectation of an increase of about 321,000 barrels, inventories increased by almost 16.3 million barrels to 471.4 million barrels.

Photo from Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation

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