China NEWS

Oil prices climbed on Thursday, buoyed up by the long-awaited signing of Phase 1 of the proposed trade deal between Washington and Beijing. Brent crude LCOc1 was priced 0.5% higher, at $64.33 a barrel. US WTI crude futures CLc1 were traded 0.5% higher, at $58.09 a barrel. China is aiming to buy over $50 billion more of U.S. oil, liquefied natural gas and other energy products over two years.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, stressed by the possibilities of the US-China trade deal not inducing demand as Washington is looking to keep tariffs on Chinese goods until a second phase. Brent crude LCOc1 fell 0.3%, at $64.30 per barrel. US WTI crude futures CLc1 were priced 0.3% lower, at $58.04 a barrel. The Phase 1 agreement between the US and China will be signed at the White House today.

A document from the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources has revealed that in order to increase oil and gas development in the country, China will open its oil and gas exploration and production to foreign firms. However, only those foreign firms will be allowed who have registered in China with net assets no lower than 300 million yuan ($43.29 million) from May 1.

Daqing, PetroChina’s oil and gas production unit, has reported an increase in production of oil and natural gas during 2019. The oil production has raised by 4.7 % between 2018 and 2019. The company produced about 43.63 million tonnes of oil in 2019. The amount of natural gas production also increased to 4.5 billion cubic meters from 4.33 bcm in 2018. The company thanked to improving technologies which have aided in the rise of production.

Sinochem unit of Chinese oil and petroleum company Sinochem Group has decided to sell 20% of their stakes at worth $1.65 billion to five national firms. Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial Bank of China and Citic Securities Investment Co. are the corporate investors. ChemChina has also approached for funding of $10 million to the group. Frank Ning Gao Ning, chairman of both companies has encouraged collaboration only after resolving individual debt issues.

Chinese state-run CNPC has informed about kickstarting operations at its 371-kilometer-long Ethane pipeline. A statement on CNPC’s website read that the Xinjiang oilfield unit has delivered 500,000 cubic meters of ethane after commencing operations a week ago. The pipeline connects CNPC's gas field in Junggar Basin to Dushanzi petrochemical complex. The gas field in Junggar Basin has an annual ethane capacity at 38.5 million cubic meters.

Oil prices rose on Thursday, climbing on the back of OPEC-led supply cut and US-China trade deal. Brent crude LCOc1 jumped 0.2%, to $67.36 a barrel. U.S. WTI CLc1 was traded 0.3% higher at $61.31 a barrel. President Trump on Tuesday said that the US and China will sign the Phase 1 agreement to end the ongoing trade dispute between the two biggest economies of the world.

Oil prices fell in the international market on Monday, however losses were capped amidst high optimism around US-China trade deal. Brent crude LCOc1 dropped 0.2%, to $65.99 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 were priced at $60.29 a barrel. President Trump on Saturday said at an event in Florida, “We just achieved a breakthrough on the trade deal and we will be signing it very shortly,”.

Oil prices held ground in the international market on Friday, amidst easing US-China trade tensions. Brent crude futures LCOc1 climbed 0.03%, to 66.56 a barrel. WTI crude futures CLc1 were priced 0.15% higher, at $61.09 per barrel. China, yesterday, announced tariff exemptions for six oil and chemical products imported from the United States, just days after the US and China announced an interim trade deal.

On Tuesday, oil prices inched lower but remained near a three-month high. Investors are hoping that the demand for the crude will increase significantly after the new US-China deal. Brent went down and was traded at $65.31 a barrel. WTI slipped and was traded at $60.17 a barrel. Oil output of the US is expected to rise to about 29,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, predicts EIA.

The United States and China have agreed to an initial trade deal after a prolonging trade war between the two nations. Post this, oil prices slipped but remained near three-month highs on Monday. Brent came down by 0.4% and was traded at $64.99 a barrel. WTI fell by 0.4% and was traded at $59.84 a barrel. Both the countries have announced “phase one” agreement on Friday.

Oil prices peaked to its three-month highest mark today, buoyed up by the news of a potential resolution to the US-China trade war. Brent crude futures were priced 0.7% higher, at $64.63/barrel. WTI crude futures were up 0.5%, to $59.49/barrel. Sources privy to the matter said that the US administration has settled on suspending some tariffs and reducing others, while Beijing will hike purchases of U.S. farm products in 2020.

China’s Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co yesterday informed about launching a 3.8-million-tonne-per-year reformer unit earlier this month at its new mega refinery and petrochemical complex in East China. Claimed to be the world’s single-largest facility of its kind, the unit will process naphtha into aromatics. The Zhejiang Petrochemical complex also consists of a second 200,000-bpd crude unit, a 1.4 million-tpy ethylene and a 4 million-tpy paraxylene plant.

Oil prices dropped on Monday, stressed by weak Chinese export data highlighting the impact of the trade war on one of the biggest economies in the world. Brent futures LCOc1 were priced 0.3% lower, at $64.18 per barrel. US WTI crude futures CLc1 fell 0.47% to $58.92 a barrel. A sudden downturn in trade on Monday came after customs data released yesterday showed a 1.1% fall in the Chinese exports.

Russia and China, yesterday, kickstarted the 3,000-km-long Power of Siberia pipeline for the transportation of gas from Siberia to northeast China. The launch was overseen by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The pipeline is being seen as an attempt to boost economic and political ties between Moscow and Beijing. The move will fortify China’s spot as Russia’s top export market.

Shanghai Futures Exchange has informed that China will launch low-sulphur fuel oil futures in the first quarter of 2020. This would be China's second bonded oil futures contract. The first contract was in March 2018 on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), a ShFE subsidiary. Apart from this, ShFE will actively promote the launch of alumina future also.

With the growth in the manufacturing activity of China, the market hopes that the fuel demand will see a significant increase in the immediate future. Owing to optimism, oil prices edged up on Monday. Brent went up by 1.2% and was traded at $61.23 a barrel. WTI increased by 1.6% and was traded at $56.03 a barrel.

Oil prices fell in the international market on Wednesday, stressed by an unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories. Benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 declined 0.3%, to $64.08 a barrel. WTI crude futures CLc1 slipped 0.29%, to $58.24 per barrel. API data released on Tuesday showed a rise of 3.6 million barrels in the week to Nov. 22 to 449.6 million.