NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Oil costs swung wildly in 2022, climbing on tight provides amid the warfare in Ukraine, then sliding on weaker demand from prime importer China and worries of an financial contraction, however closed the yr on Friday with a second straight annual acquire.
Costs surged in March as Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended international crude flows, with worldwide benchmark Brent reaching $139.13 a barrel, highest since 2008. Costs cooled quickly within the second half as central banks hiked rates of interest and fanned worries of recession.
“This has been a unprecedented yr for commodity markets, with provide dangers resulting in elevated volatility and elevated costs,” mentioned ING analyst Ewa Manthey. “Subsequent yr is about to be one other yr of uncertainty, with loads of volatility,” she mentioned.
Brent crude on Friday, the final buying and selling day of the yr, settled at $85.91 a barrel, up practically 3% to $2.45 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $80.26 a barrel, up $1.86 or 2.4%.
For the yr, Brent gained about 10%, after leaping 50% in 2021. U.S. crude rose practically 7% in 2022, following final yr's acquire of 55%. Each benchmarks fell sharply in 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic slashed gas demand.
Buyers in 2023 are anticipated to maintain taking a cautious strategy, cautious of rate of interest hikes and attainable recessions.
“The demand and demand development goes to be an actual query due to the heavy-handed actions by the worldwide central banks and the slowdown that they are making an attempt to engineer,” mentioned John Kilduff, associate at Once more Capital LLC in New York.
A survey of 30 economists and analysts forecast Brent would common $89.37 a barrel in 2023, about 4.6% decrease than the consensus in a November survey. U.S. crude is projected to common $84.84 per barrel in 2023, down from the prior view. learn extra
Whereas a leap in year-end vacation journey and Russia's ban on crude and oil product gross sales has supported crude, tighter provide can be offset subsequent yr by declining gas consumption because of a deteriorating financial surroundings, mentioned CMC Markets analyst Leon Li.
Oil's decline within the second half of 2022 as rising rates of interest to combat inflation boosted the U.S. greenback. That made dollar-denominated commodities like crude extra pricey for holders of different currencies.
The greenback was on observe to put up its greatest annual acquire since 2015. learn extra
China's zero-COVID restrictions, which have been eased solely this month, had squashed demand restoration hopes. The world's prime oil importer and second-biggest shopper in 2022 posted its first drop in oil demand for years.
Whereas China's oil demand is anticipated to recuperate in 2023, a current surge in COVID-19 instances has dimmed hopes of an instantaneous increase in barrel shopping for.
In an indicator of future provide, the U.S. oil and gasoline rig rely rose 33% for the yr, power companies agency Baker Hughes Co (BKR.O) mentioned in its newest report.
Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; further reporting by Alex Lawler, Florence Tan and Emily Chow; Modifying by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio
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