The news that China plans to ship large volumes of US crude oil in August and September settling the rising tension between the two countries, while oil prices remain stable on Monday.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 3 cents, or 0.1%, to $44.77 a barrel by 0858 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 3 cents, or 0.1%, to $42.04 a barrel.
The United States and China have delayed the review of the Phase 1 trade deals scheduled for Saturday, in terms of timing.
However, as a positive signal, Chinese state-owned oil companies booked tankers to transport at least 20 million barrels of US crude oil for August and September.
The news of record crude oil imports from China and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions globally have supported oil prices in recent weeks. However, in some countries, waves of new coronavirus outbreaks are expected to worry again.
However, the market is not contracting as quickly as expected, demand is taking longer than expected to return to normal.
investors will also try to get more clues about future supplies from a meeting this week from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, representing the group known as OPEC +.
The Joint Ministry Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which monitors the OPEC production restrictions agreed earlier this year, has consiidered the daily production cut of 9.7 million barrels from May to the end of July that were imposed in accordance with the previous OPEC agreement, and recommended it to be 7.7 million barrels per day from 1 August.
It can be said that the performance of OPEC is successful. The price of oil rose from the dramatic $ 16 to about $ 45 in May and stabilized.
Demand is estimated to have increased by 8 million barrels a day to 88 million barrels a day in the last four months. However, considering that time it’s still 13 million barrels below last year.
Meanwhile, in the United States, rising oil prices are encouraging some producers to drill again. However, the number of oil and gas rigs operating last week remained at a record low in week 15.
