(Bloomberg) -- Oil was little changed in Asia on Monday with an ongoing surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the U.S. tempering optimism for a demand recovery.
Futures in New York dipped as much as 0.3%, after easing 0.4% on Friday. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned that the city is on the brink of another stay-at-home order as new cases in California accelerated. There was better news elsewhere: the pace of deaths slowed in Arizona and Florida, while Texas cases dropped. New York City is set for Phase Four reopening on Monday.
Crude prices slipped at the back end of last week after soft U.S consumer sentiment and labor market indicators cast doubt on how fast the world’s biggest economy would bounce back from the pandemic lockdown.
U.S. benchmark crude futures are having trouble breaking out of the tight trading range they’ve been in since early June. Major gasoline-guzzling states like Texas and California are facing a resurgence in Covid-19 cases, squashing demand, while the OPEC+ alliance is preparing to unleash crude oil back into the market next month.
With prices treading water, there’s been little to get excited about for traders. Volumes on the global Brent benchmark in July are heading for their lowest month since 2014, while those for WTI are set for their quietest month since 2015.
Russia’s oil exports are expected to stay near July’s historically low levels next month, a signal the country is serious about keeping extra crude it plans to pump domestically and draining key refining markets like northwest Europe. The Russian government will hold a meeting with the nation’s oil producers to discuss the domestic fuel market and lifting a ban on importing oil products, Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin told reporters Friday.
Oil explorers last week extended a record streak of U.S. rig retirements that commenced four months ago with a Saudi-Russian price war and the virus-driven demand collapse.
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