World oil prices
According to Reuters , oil prices continued to increase by 2% at the end of the trading session on May 24 after the market received information about a sudden sharp decrease in US crude oil reserves and a warning from the Saudi Arabian Energy Minister, raising the prospect of OPEC+ production cuts. Oil prices have increased for three consecutive sessions since the beginning of the trading week.
Brent crude for July delivery rose $1.52, or 2%, to $78.36 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.43, or 2%, to $74.34 a barrel.
On May 24, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that US crude oil reserves unexpectedly fell sharply by 12.5 million barrels to 455.2 million barrels due to a decrease in imports. This is a shocking decrease compared to the 800,000 barrel increase predicted by analysts.
U.S. gasoline stocks also fell 2.1 million barrels to 216.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell 600,000 barrels to 105.7 million barrels, the EIA said.
Gasoline and oil inventories fell ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, which falls on May 29 this year. The holiday marks the start of the peak summer travel season and higher fuel demand.
“Refineries are running at full capacity to meet demand,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group. Commenting on the recent oil price moves, Flynn stressed that oil prices have been too focused on the developments in the US debt ceiling negotiations and the possibility of US interest rates, and have not really focused on the supply and demand side, which has tightened in recent weeks.
Last month, Federal Reserve officials broadly agreed that the need for further rate hikes "has become less certain" and that the recent 25 basis point rate hike could be the last, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister warned short sellers betting on lower oil prices to “watch out” for losses. Some investors took his warning as a signal that OPEC+ could consider further production cuts at its June 4 meeting.
According to Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, the oil price rally was supported by the latest short-selling warning from Saudi Arabia.
In another development, there is still no sign of progress in negotiations on raising the US debt ceiling while the deadline for raising the debt ceiling on June 1 or the risk of default is approaching.
Oil's gains were capped by news of persistently high UK inflation. UK inflation fell to 8.7% last month, still higher than the 8.2% seen in a Reuters poll, but down significantly from the previous month. Earlier this month, the Bank of England (BoE) forecast April inflation at 8.4%. Given the momentum, the BoE is likely to continue raising interest rates to curb inflation.
Domestic gasoline prices
Domestic retail prices of gasoline on May 25 are as follows:
E5 RON 92 gasoline is not more than 20,488 VND/liter. RON 95 gasoline is not more than 21,499 VND/liter. Diesel oil not more than 17,954 VND/liter. Kerosene not more than 17,969 VND/liter. Fuel oil not exceeding 15,158 VND/kg. |
The above domestic retail price of gasoline and oil was adjusted up by the Ministry of Finance - Industry and Trade in the price management session on the afternoon of May 22 with the highest increase of 499 VND/liter.
In this management period, the joint ministries have set aside the Price Stabilization Fund for E5 RON 92 gasoline at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period), RON 95 gasoline at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period); diesel at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period); kerosene at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period); fuel oil at VND 300/kg (as in the previous period); and have not spent the Price Stabilization Fund for all gasoline and oil products.
With this adjustment, gasoline prices have increased slightly after three consecutive decreases.
Since the beginning of the year, gasoline prices have undergone 14 adjustments, including 8 increases, 5 decreases, and 1 unchanged.
MAI HUONG
Source
Comment (0)