Markets

NYMEX ULSD was the only futures contract covered here that registered a week-on-week price increase over the week ending Sept. 9.

Petroleum prices tumbled over the week ending Sept. 2 despite a relatively strong open on Monday for crudes as traders looked ahead to the Sept.-5 OPEC+ meeting and the possibility that the group could consider cutting output.

While concerns about petroleum demand amid fragile economic growth continued to weigh on sentiment, several OPEC members released statements supporting a new round of production cuts after the group spent the past year unwinding the reductions enacted due to the coronavirus.

Bullish weekly statistics from the US EIA pushed up futures prices for crude and refined products for the latter three days of the week ending Aug. 19.

Improved economic data as well as a forecast for better demand growth and an uptick in implied US demand for gasoline added to the bullishness inspired by a pipeline leak in the US GoM and a stoppage on the Druzhba pipeline, which carries crude from Russia to various European countries.

For the week ending Aug. 5, the ongoing tug-of-war between limited supply and concerns that demand will weaken—which has largely driven the market for several weeks—shifted back to the bearish side.

Concerns about poor demand amid the possibility of a slowdown in economic growth persist but oil supplies remain tight.

The petroleum market continued to be more swayed by the possibility of a worldwide recession than by currently-tight supplies over the week ending July 15.

The ongoing story of traders shifting focus between fears of a global recession and concerns about current supply tightness leaned to the bearish side over the week ending July 8.

The bears and bulls played tug-of-war throughout the week as traders shifted focus between ongoing concerns about aggressive fiscal policy causing an economic slowdown and ongoing concerns about tight supplies, with little indication that upstream output might increase any time soon.