World News
China's Multi Billion Dollar Stimulus Fails To Impress, Oil Prices Rudderless
Oil prices on Thursday incurred another round of modest losses, despite China deciding to ramp up fiscal support in the New Year to revive its disappointing economy.
Beijing stated that it would issue the equivalent of a record $411 billion worth of special treasury bonds in 2025 – a debt issuance to soften the blow of a potential increase in U.S. tariffs and intended to boost consumption via subsidy programmes, business equipment upgrades, and funding investments in advanced sectors.
Consequently, the World Bank on Thursday raised its forecast for China's gross domestic product growth to 4.9 percent this year, up from its June forecast of 4.8 percent, and Mara Warwick, the bank's country director for China, said, "Improving local government finances will be essential to unlocking a sustained recovery."
But the news failed to impress gloomy traders, who caused Brent to settle down 32 cents at $73.26 per barrel; West Texas Intermediate settled down 48 cents at $69.62 per barrel.
China was also on the minds of analysts at Bloomberg, who pointed out that U.S. crude exports to that country "plunged by almost half this year [to 81.9 million barrels] as shifts in the nation's economy weighed on demand and it bought more barrels from other countries including Russia and Iran."
However, this development wasn't entirely negative; the analysts added, "Europe has become an increasingly important destination for U.S. crude, driven partly by the inclusion of West Texas Intermediate oil in dated Brent."
Kpler data showed that of all European countries, the Netherlands continued to import the most crude, to the tune of 194 million barrels this year, a 12 percent increase from 2023.
China was also a source of interest on Thursday for Kang Wu, global head of macro and oil demand research at SPGCI: he noted that India's oil demand growth is expected to exceed China's for the first time in 2024, and continue in 2025.
Demand this year grew by 180,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared to China's growth at 148,000 bpd.
Key Bunker Prices More
| VLSFO | MGO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $/mt | +/- | $/mt | +/- | |
| Singapore | 560.50 | 7.00 | 669.00 | 4.00 |
| Rotterdam | 512.50 | 2.00 | 653.00 | 2.00 |
| Houston | 548.00 | 3.00 | 671.00 | 0.00 |
| Fujairah | 549.00 | 6.00 | 747.00 | 0.00 |
| Global 20 Ports Average | 577.50 | 3.50 | 749.50 | 1.50 |
| Global 4 Ports Average | 542.50 | 3.50 | 685.00 | 0.50 |
| Global Average Bunker Price | 628.50 | 1.50 | 800.50 | 1.00 |
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