The direction for crude oil prices this week will be determined largely by progress on a COVID-19 vaccine, analysts said.
Crude oil prices were boosted once again last week by hopes that a vaccine for COVID-19 could be approved and distributed relatively soon. Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the head of a US task force tasked with facilitating a vaccine, said during the weekend that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could see distribution as soon as Dec. 12.
“Within 24 hours from the approval, the vaccine will be moving and located in the areas where each state will have told us where they want the vaccine doses,” Slaoui said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Giovanni Staunovo, an oil analyst at Swiss investment bank UBS in Zurich, said the vaccine news runs up against news of social restrictions to control the pandemic.
“Oil will most likely remain be driven by the same drivers as in recent weeks,” he said. “On the positive side, by vaccine news and U.S. fiscal stimulus hopes, on the negative side by potential further mobility restrictions in Europe and U.S. states.”
RELATED: Refiners turn to biofuels as COVID drags down gasoline demand
Commodities this time of year would usually get support from increased travel for Thanksgiving. In the United States, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged caution during the holiday given the extraordinary increase in new cases of COVID-19. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Swedish government, at times adverse to strict lockdowns, said travel restrictions may be in place for Christmas.
Clay Seigle, the managing director at Vortexa, which tracks waterborne shipments of oil and gas, said there may be a dark underbelly to the vaccine news.
“There’s a risk of ‘moral hazard,’ a term economists use to describe when people make decisions feeling protected from consequences,” he said. “If people undertake riskier behavior with a view that the end of the crisis is within reach, then hospitals could face even worse conditions, leading to more lockdowns and keeping the lid on transportation fuel demand.”
Daniel Hynes, a senior commodities strategist for ANZ bank in Australia, said OPEC policy planners, too, are paying attention to the vaccine news, “but I can’t see that helping in the short term.”
RELATED: Gasoline prices fall as weak demand offsets higher crude prices
But it’s not all bad news. The decline in air travel leaves many shippers turning toward the water to deliver holiday goods, keeping diesel in high demand. Matthew Kohlman, an associate editorial director for Platts in Houston, said water-borne deliveries and the busy Atlantic hurricane season has supported prices of refined products.
As a result, he said, diesel prices have been relatively stable to modestly higher because of increased shipping demand.
"oil" - Google News
November 23, 2020 at 09:15PM
https://ift.tt/2IZyYt2
Vaccine news to drive oil prices, but don’t get too excited - Houston Chronicle
"oil" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2PqPpxF
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Vaccine news to drive oil prices, but don’t get too excited - Houston Chronicle"
Post a Comment