The China headlines recently have been a main catalyst for the drop in oil prices, as protests and lockdowns point towards unrest and further demand destruction. The rumours of OPEC+ wanting to increase output in the past week also isn’t helping, even if Saudi officials have denied that.
As much as the latest OPEC+ output cut and global reopening should spur prices, we haven’t really seen that sort of spike after things have somewhat calmed down in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Obviously, China is a key driver of demand conditions as well but considering how they are adamant in sticking with their zero-Covid policy for now, that’s a major blow for hope and risk optimism to start the new week.