An oil and gas drilling platform stands offshore in the Gulf of Mexico near Dauphin Island, Alabama. Picture: REUTERS/STEVE NESIUS
Both contracts ended last week with a more than 5% decline after dismal manufacturing data from the US and China, as the lingering row between the world’s top economies hurts global growth and raises the risk of recession. “The macro headwinds outweigh supply concerns for oil now, despite tensions in the Middle East and a reduced spare capacity pillow,” Stephen Innes, Asia Pacific market strategist at AxiCorp, said.
“Any oil production disruption would occur at a time when Saudi Arabia has lost a significant part of its energy system redundancies [spare capacity],” he said.