- Oil prices fall slightly but stay near $92/Bbl
- WTI marginally reversed its gains from Friday to trade above $90/Bbl
- China's COVID-19 cases surged to a six-month high on Sunday, and the nation’s National Health Commission reiterated its stance on “unswervingly” adhering to its Covid-zero curbs
- China tightened Covid restrictions in Beijing and Guangzhou yesterday, raising worries about future economic and demand disruptions
- The USD Index (DXY – a proxy for U.S. Dollar strength against a basket of other international currencies) relatively weakened from its recent 20-year highs
- A weaker dollar (DXY Index) can cause foreign buyers of dollar-denominated commodities to pay less for the same amount of goods
- China’s oil imports increased for the first time since May (BBG)
- China increased oil imports last month after the government issued additional fuel export quotas in an effort to assist the nation’s economy to recover
- The largest crude importer in the world bought 10.2 MMBbl/d in October, which is 4% more than in September and the most since May, according to customs data released on Monday
- Beijing announced a 15 million tons (3.063 MMBbl) fuel export quota in late September that could be carried over into 1Q2023
- Despite the increased quota, China's net fuel exports fell 43% in October compared to a month earlier, according to separate data released on Monday
- China began this year by cutting back the quotas for fuel exports in the first export quota batch for 2022, signaling its intent to curb fuel exports and reduce excessive refinery output
- But that was before the diesel shortage started to negatively affect the global economy with renewed inflationary pressure