Oil prices increased on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, supported by hopes that China’s COVID-19 strict restrictions will be lifted and that this will result in a rebound in fuel demand in the world’s largest oil importer.
After rising 1.7% the previous session, the price of Brent crude futures increased by 63 cents, or 0.73%, to $86.55 a barrel by 0401 GMT.
After increasing by 0.4% on Tuesday, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased by 68 cents, or 0.85%, to $80.56.
The official target of ‘around 5.5 percent’ was missed by China’s economic growth in 2022, which was the second-worst result since 1976. However, even after China started to reverse its zero-COVID policy in early December, the data continued to outperform analysts’ predictions. According to Reuters’ poll of analysts, growth will increase to 4.9% in 2023.
Chinese oil demand will increase by 510,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), after contracting for the first time in years in 2022 as a result of COVID containment measures.
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