Informist, Monday, Jan 3, 2022

By Sayantan Sarkar

MUMBAI – Crude oil prices in India and abroad were in the red today ahead of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies' ministerial meeting on Tuesday. 

* Oil prices were higher for most of the day. Even as new cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 continue to surge across the world, oil market today showed no sign of concerns with prices starting the year on a positive note, said Matt Stanley, senior broker at Star Fuels. 

* At 1909 IST

 --The January crude oil contract on Multi Commodity Exchange of India was down 0.8% at 5,581 rupees per barrel.

 --The February contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 0.5% at $74.83 per bbl.

* Meanwhile, Libya's oil output will be cut by 200,000 barrels per day for a week due to a pipeline maintenance, which had supported global prices. 

* According to media reports, OPEC and its allies are expected to stick to their decision to increase output by 400,000 bpd in February at their meeting later this week. 

* "WTI (West Texas Intermediate) Crude oil prices are likely to get fresh direction from OPEC+ meeting tomorrow meanwhile immediate support level could be seen around $75.4-$72.70 and immediate resistance is seen around $77.6-79.9," said Mahesh Kumar, executive vice president and head of capital and commodities market at Abans Group.

* Outlook for the evening session by:

 --MCX contract is seen at 5,350-5,700 rupees per bbl

 --NYMEX contract is seen at $72.7-$77.6 per bbl. 

End

US$1 = 74.26 rupees

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited Maheswaran Parameswaran

Cogencis news is now Informist. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2022. All rights reserved.