INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Oil prices settled lower Monday on a stronger United States dollar and uncertainty over a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in China over the
weekend.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell more than 3 percent to below $86 a barrel Monday compared with their
daily highs of almost $90 per barrel.Investors also feared weak demand after the US Federal Reserve signaled another rate hike despite
better-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released last week.Last week, the US CPI, which measures changes in the prices of goods
and services from the perspective of consumers, signaled a slowdown in inflation, giving hope to investors that the Fed may ease up on
interest rate hikes in the coming months.World oil demand growthThe Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) revised down
global oil demand growth on Monday by 0.1 million barrels per day (bpd) for 2022 and 2023, respectively, and estimated that demand would
demand in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will rise by around 1.3 million bpd this year, as
will demand in non-OECD countries by 1.3 million bpd.Demand in the OECD is expected to rise by 0.3 million bpd next year, while demand in
non-OECD countries is seen to increase by 1.9 million bpd.The second quarter of this year was revised up due to higher-than-expected oil
economic activity, oil demand in the third and fourth quarters has been revised downward.Germany, PolandGermany and Poland announced
separate takeovers of natural gas firms that had ties to Russian state-owned company Gazprom.The German government said it is nationalizing
a former subsidiary of Gazprom.Formerly known as Gazprom Germania, Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE) is a network operator and
nationalization measures in a statement Monday with the imminent insolvency of SEFE, which would endanger the security of supply in
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
