Oil extends drop as China share rout reverberates across markets
By Bloomberg
Oil extended its slide from its lowest close in almost three months amid concern about economic stability in China and Europe.
Futures dropped as much as 1.7 percent in New York in a fifth day of declines, the longest retreat since May. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged to a three-month low, while the Bloomberg Commodities Index fell near the lowest since 2002. Diplomats in Vienna extended a deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran until July 10 while European leaders set a cutoff two days later for Greece to make new economic reform proposals.
Oil has given up this year’s gains as the Greek crisis and China’s stock rout prompted investors to shun riskier assets. Iran, the fourth-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, plans to boost crude exports and recapture market share when sanctions are lifted. The global market will remain amply supplied into 2016, Total SA Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday.
“Crude oil has been hit by a summer storm of demand concerns on the back of China and Greece and the prospect of growing supply in the back of Iran,” Jens Pedersen, a Copenhagen-based commodities analyst at Danske Bank A/S, said by e-mail. “While much of the year has been about rebalancing of the oil market, the glut is taking over the market again.”
West Texas Intermediate for August delivery decreased as much as 87 cents to $51.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $51.91 at 9:56 a.m. London time. The contract dropped 20 cents to $52.33 on Tuesday, the lowest close since April 13. Prices are down 2.6 percent this year. Total volume was 8 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day.
Chinese Market
Brent for August settlement slid as much as 98 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $55.87 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $4.29 to WTI.
Chinese equities have lost more than $3.5 trillion of value in less than a month, with the world’s second-biggest oil consumer seeking to stabilize the market with measures including raising margin requirements for sell orders. Commodities traded in China from silver to lead fell to daily trading limits. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 energy, agriculture and metal products dropped 0.5 percent as of 9:49 a.m. London time.
In Vienna, world powers and Iran say they’re closer than ever to an accord after 11 days of talks. An agreement would speed the Persian Gulf nation’s return to world oil markets and the international financial system.
“The correction is driven by the risk-off environment and prospects of even more OPEC oil,” Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich, said by e-mail. “That said, not everything is so negative. U.S. onshore production is falling and the Atlantic basin overhang is slowly clearing.”
Iranian Supply
Iran’s plan to sell more crude remains a long way off, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Societe Generale SA said last week. Its goal of boosting exports by 50 percent would require an extra 500,000 barrels a day of production, which the banks predict will take six to 12 months as the nation revives aging oil wells.
U.S. crude inventories were probably unchanged last week after rising to 465.4 million barrels, based on the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts before an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday. Supplies fell by 958,000 barrels, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday, according to ForexLive.
European leaders set a Sunday deadline for Greece to accept a debt rescue, saying otherwise they’ll take the unprecedented step of propelling the country out of the euro area. At a Brussels summit, Greece’s anti-austerity government was ordered to make new economic reform proposals to secure another aid package.
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!