India's Russian oil imports hit a record 1.4 million barrels per day in January, trade data showed. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
florence.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices were little
changed in early Asian trade on Monday, after settling down $2 a
barrel on Friday, as rising supplies in the United States and
forecasts of more interest rate hikes cooled optimism over
China's demand recovery.
Brent crude slid 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $82.91 a
barrel by 0051 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for March, which expires on Tuesday, was at $76.40 a barrel, up
6 cents. The more active April contract fell 9 cents to $76.46.
The benchmarks closed lower by about 4% last week after the
United States reported higher crude and gasoline inventories.
Washington also announced plans to release 26 million
barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)
which could lead to higher stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the
delivery point for WTI contracts, until May, Energy Aspects
analysts said in a note.
Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue
raising interest rates which could strengthen the dollar also
capped oil prices. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated
oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.
In another sign of improving supplies, Kazakhstan will
supply 100,000 tonnes of oil via Russia's Druzhba pipeline to
Germany in March for the PCK Schwedt refinery.
In Asia, investors are eyeing the People's Bank of China's
decision on its mortgage rates to support recovery in the
property sector and its economy, CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng
said. China is the world's largest crude oil importer.
Analysts expect China's imports to hit an all-time high in
2023 due to increased demand for transportation fuel and as new
refineries come onstream.
China, along with India, have become top buyers of Russian
crude following the European Union embargo.
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