ISLAMABAD: Crude oil prices edged up on Tuesday in a volatile session due to new Covid-19 restrictions. At 1245 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $0.19 (+0.26 percent) to reach $74.58 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) price reached $71.45 a barrel, up by $0.16 (+0.22 percent). The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $74.03 a barrel with a decrease of 1.41 percent, Arab Light was available at $75.67 with 1.98 percent decrease, and the price of Russian Sokol slipped to $76.31 with a decrease of 1.98 percent. TLTP
Governments around the world, including most recently Britain and Norway, are tightening restrictions to stop the spread of the Omicron variant. In China, major manufacturing province Zhejiang is fighting its first Covid-19 cluster this year, with tens of thousands of citizens in quarantine and virus-hit areas suspending business operations, cutting flights and cancelling events.
Meanwhile, new-well oil production per rig has gained some serious ground over the last three years, increasing nearly 85 percent since the start of 2019, EIA data showed. According to the data, new-well oil production per rig rose to 1,142 barrels per day in December, and is expected to stay close to that figure in January, at 1,140.
While the monthly gains have been modest since the beginning of 2019—at an average gain of just 14 barrels per rig per day, it has catapulted the average production per rig per day to 1,140. This is up from 628 at the beginning of 2019—for a gain of 81%.
Production overall in the seven most prolific shale plays in the United States is also up, with December’s production is estimated at 8.342 million bpd, and January estimated to come in at 8.438 million bpd. This compares to the January 2019 production of 8.117 million bpd. In the meantime, however, in January 2020, production from the seven plays had increased to 9.178 million bpd.
