Oil prices soften; banking crisis and Chinese demand in focus (updated)

First Citizens Bancshares (Tennessee)

28/03/2023 05:03

(Updates prices)
    By Laura Sanicola and Sudarshan Varadhan
       March 28 (Reuters) - Crude prices retreated on Tuesday
after rallying the previous session, with markets focused on
developments in the banking crisis and indications of
strengthening demand in China. 
    Prices eased after rising at the fastest pace in more than 
four months on Monday. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude  CLc1 
was down 1 cent, or 0.01%, to $72.80 a barrel. Brent crude
futures  LCOc1  fell 19 cents to $77.93 a barrel by 0651 GMT. 
    "Though risks remain in the banking system amid the recent
event, dip-buys in crude oil could be the prevailing trend in
the near term," said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets.
    Prices rose in the previous session after Turkey stopped
pumping crude from Kurdistan via a pipeline following an
arbitration decision that confirmed Baghdad's consent was needed
to ship the oil. 
    Monday's announcement that First Citizens BancShares Inc
 FCNCA.O  will acquire deposits and loans of failed Silicon
Valley Bank  SIVB.O  spurred optimism about the condition of the
banking sector that has roiled financial markets.
    Oil prices were also likely to continue drawing support from
indications of recovering Chinese demand.
    China's crude oil imports are expected to rise 6.2% in 2023
to 540 million tonnes, according to an annual forecast by a
research unit of China National Petroleum Corp on Monday.
    "China's manufacturing and services PMIs will be a major
economic driver to oil prices as positive data is most likely to
further improve the demand outlook," Teng said.
    U.S. crude oil stockpiles were seen rising about 200,000
barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N35Z3G6
    The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group,
will publish its inventory data at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday and
the U.S. Energy Information Administration at 10:30 a.m. on
Wednesday.

 (Reporting by Laura Sanicola, Sudarshan Varadhan and Mohi
Narayan; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jacqueline Wong
and Louise Heavens)
 ((Laura.sanicola@tr.com))