Oil Pares Gains As Parts Of Shanghai Impose New Lockdown Measures

9 Jun 2022 , 02:15 PM

Crude oil prices erased some of its early gains on Thursday after parts of Shanghai imposed new COVID-19 lockdown measures. US West Texas Intermediate crude for July was at $121.55 a barrel, down from $123.15, a three-month high hit overnight. Parts of Shanghai began imposing new lockdown restrictions on Thursday, with residents of sprawling Minhang district ordered to stay home for two days in a bid to control COVID transmission risks. Meanwhile, Chinas crude oil imports rose nearly 12% in May from a low base in a year earlier, although refiners were still battling high inventories with COVID-19 lockdowns and a slowing economy weighing on fuel demand last month. Data from the Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory build of 2 million barrels for the week to June 3. This compared with a draw of 1.5 million barrels for the previous week, leaving inventories at 416.8 million barrels. Powered by Commodity Insights