Oil Prices Fell By Nearly $4 On Monday, Lockdown In Shanghai

Oil prices fell by nearly $4 on Monday as concerns grew over slowing fuel demand in China. Oil prices fell by about $ 4, due to these two reasons, the price decreased.

This happened when officials in Shanghai said that they would close the country’s financial center for corona testing.

In such a situation, there is already uncertainty in the market due to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.

While, on the other hand, the market is under further tension due to the extension of Corona-related lockdown in China, the world’s largest crude oil importer.

Let us tell you that Russia is the second-largest exporter of crude oil in the world.

Brent crude futures slipped to as low as $116.00 a barrel and were trading down $3.88, or 3.2 percent, at $116.77 (0131 GMT).

Oil prices fell by nearly $4 on Monday: US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled as low as $109.30 per barrel. It was at $109.98, down $3.92, or 3.4 percent.

Both the benchmark contracts were up 1.4% on Friday. They posted their first weekly gains in three weeks, with Brent rising over 11.5% and WTI up 8.8 percent.

“Shanghai’s lockdown prompted a fresh selloff from disappointed investors as they expected such a lockdown to be avoided,” said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Securities Co Ltd.

He said the market was affected by the missile attack on the Saudi oil distribution facility last Friday.

“Nevertheless, as OPEC+ is less likely to increase oil production at a faster pace than in recent months, we expect the oil market to turn bullish again later this week,” he added.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, are scheduled to meet on Thursday.

Petrol and diesel prices increased again today.

Petrol prices were hiked by 30 paise per liter and diesel by 35 paise per liter on Monday, taking the overall increase in prices from Rs 4 (petrol) to Rs 4.10 (diesel) per liter in the past one week.

According to the price notification of the government fuel retailers, the price of petrol in Delhi has now increased from Rs 99.11 per liter to Rs 99.41 per liter while the price of diesel has increased from Rs 90.42 per liter to Rs 90.77.

This increase has been done across the country. However, different states have different prices depending on local taxation.