Oil Price Falls

Brent crude futures retreated by 46 cents, or 0.5%, to $87.17 at 0031 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 40 cents, also down 0.5%, to $81.24 a barrel

Weekend data indicated a surprise contraction in Chinese factory activity, highlighting the cost of Beijing's preference for mobility curbs to tackle Covid-19

Oil prices took a fall following Shanghai's new lockdown restrictions imposed recently. However, it maintained the nearly three-month high streak, say market reports

Oil prices slipped in early Asian trading, following the second straight weekly decline after world consumers announced plans to release crude from strategic stocks and as Chinese lockdowns continued

Extended lockdowns are being driven by the threat of a third wave, with a new variant of the coronavirus on the continent.

Brent crude rose 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $42.52 a barrel by 0810 GMT having risen 1.7% on Thursday. U.S. crude fell 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $40.57

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Tuesday reported 92 per cent slump in its June quarter net profit after oil prices halved and gas rates fell to a decade low. Standalone net profit of Rs 496 crore in April-June was 91.7 per cent lower than Rs 5,980 crore net profit a year back, the company said in a statement. The surprise profit came after the company delayed payment of cess on crude oil it produces. Initially, the company did not pay even royalty in anticipation of relief from the government to deal with a slump in oil prices. It cleared royalty payments at June-end but cess payments were done only in July. ONGC pays about Rs 400 crore of royalty and cess every quarter to the government. Revenues dipped 51 per cent to Rs 13,011 crore after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown impacted fuel demand. ONGC said it got USD 28.72 for every barrel of crude oil it sold in the quarter, down from USD 66.32 a barrel in the same period a year back. Gas price realisation fell 35

Brent crude futures were down 8 cents, or 0.2%, at $39.91 a barrel as of 0106 GMT and US WTI crude futures fell 15 cents, or 0.4%, to $37.26 a barrel

Premier Oil's CEO said he is seeking a cheaper price for North Sea assets it agreed to buy from BP for $625 million and Energean is doing the same with a $700 million purchase from Edison

The auto fuels today maintain almost the same price levels at pumps that was existing on March 14, when government raised the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre

The price of a barrel of crude varies based on factors such as supply, demand and quality. Supply of fuel has been far above demand since the coronavirus forced billions of people to stop traveling

Additional revenue will help govt meet its FY21 target of bringing down the fiscal deficit to 3.5% of GDP

The main beneficiaries are likely to be the main consuming countries such as India and China, but even there oil companies will be affected.

Brent crude futures fell 21 cents to $71.86 a barrel by 1249 GMT, having touched a session high of $73.08, while US crude futures fell 8 cents to $61.59

Brent crude futures were down 79 cents at $74.25 a barrel by 1043 GMT, while US futures fell 53 cents to $64.78 a barrel

Data on Wednesday showing a large build in US inventories fostered fears about the outlook for fuel demand

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.27 a barrel, down 34 cents, or 0.5%

Brent crude was down 50 cents at $46.38 a barrel and US crude was 50 cents lower at $43.90