The bulls are leaving the ring

Oil prices have well and truly eased off their rally while Russia continues to bring in the big bucks for its supplies.

• Crude oil futures fell just under 10% last week for their worst 5-day session since April this year, settling at $80.11 per barrel and now down nearly 30% in the last 6 months after seeing a stunning rally earlier this year – the change in sentiment all comes down to demand and supply, as per usual.
• Essentially, supply is up and demand is down, putting pressure on prices. Concerns are mounting about weakening fuel demand in China, which only a few days after lessening its quarantine rules reported its first covid death in six months over the weekend – it’s a major importer of oil and more covid restrictions will mean less oil demand.
• That’s outweighing the potential for Russian supply to drop next month on tighter EU sanctions. So far, even with existing sanctions, total purchases of Russian energy (including oil products) totalled $7.7bn in October, bringing its total haul since invading Ukraine to $59.5bn.