Friday, April 25, 2025
7:21 PM
Doha,Qatar
Oil price

Oil prices stabilize after Brexit vote, refined products glut looms

* British EU exit to have minimal impact on oil demand
* But Asian refined products glut is of bigger fundamental concern

 Oil prices stabilized on Monday as market participants better absorbed the shock of last week's vote in Great Britain to leave the European Union and recognised the referendum would have little effect on global fuel demand.
Brent crude futures were trading at $48.76 a barrel by 0650 GMT on Monday, up 35 cents from their last settlement. US crude was up 18 cents at $47.81 a barrel.
Both crude benchmarks had fallen around 5 percent on Friday amid plunging global financial markets as results from a referendum defied bookmakers' odds to show a 52 percent to 48 percent victory for the campaign to leave a bloc Britain joined more than 40 years ago.
But oil stabilized on Monday as analysts said that Britain's EU exit would have very little impact on physical oil trading.
"If we assume a 2 percent drop in UK GDP in response to the exit vote, which is on the high end of our economists' estimates, then UK oil demand would likely be reduced by 1 percent or 16,000 barrels per day, which is a 0.016 percent hit to global demand. This is extremely small on any measure."" said Goldman Sachs.
Of more concern to the market is a building refined products glut, especially in Asia.
"For near term oil, we remain most concerned about product oversupply, China demand, the macro outlook, and the likely return of production," Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients.
Chinese refiners have responded to the Asian oil products glut by exporting record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel into regional markets, eroding refinery profit margins and swelling storage.
As a result, analysts said there is a possibility that refiners dial back production and curb orders for their main feedstock crude oil, potentially weighing on prices.
Despite this, Morgan Stanley added that "the medium term trend towards oil market rebalancing appears in place, barring a recession." This implies that oil prices would likely remain stable or rise as a supply overhang that pulled down prices by as much as 70 percent between 2014 and early 2016 is gradually brought down, bringing production back in line with consumption.
In shipping, Panama opened the long-delayed $5.2 billion expansion of its shipping canal connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans on Sunday, but the facilities are still too small to handle oil super-tankers like Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).

Comments
  • There are no comments.

Add Comments

B1Details

Latest News

SPORT

Canada's youngsters set stage for new era

Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.

1:43 PM February 26 2017
TECHNOLOGY

A payment plan for universal education

Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education

11:46 AM December 14 2016
CULTURE

10-man Lekhwiya leave it late to draw Rayyan 2-2

Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions

7:10 AM November 26 2016
ARABIA

Yemeni minister hopes 48-hour truce will be maintained

The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged

10:30 AM November 27 2016
ARABIA

QM initiative aims to educate society on arts and heritage

Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.

10:55 PM November 27 2016
ARABIA

Qatar, Indonesia to boost judicial ties

The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.

10:30 AM November 28 2016
ECONOMY

Sri Lanka eyes Qatar LNG to fuel power plants in ‘clean energy shift’

Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.

10:25 AM November 12 2016
B2Details
C7Details