Weekly Bitumen Report: A Sudden Crude Oil Decline

On Tuesday, September 3, two days after the discovery of the dead bodies of six Israeli hostages, the country witnessed major protests against Netanyahu. The protestors believed that he did not adequately protect the captives to ensure their safe return home. In the meantime, Biden also accused Netanyahu of not doing enough to secure a ceasefire agreement with Hamas and the return of hostages.

Despite the continuation of tension in the Middle East and the lack of a normal situation of oil export from the main terminals of Libya, crude oil prices fell significantly during the last week.

According to Reuters from Singapore, oil prices fell on Tuesday as the economic growth in China, the world’s largest crude oil importer, slowed down, raising concerns about oil demand. This decline occurred while the halt in oil production and exports from Libya impacted global crude oil markets.

Besides, on Wednesday, OPEC announced that by the reduction in crude oil prices to its lowest levels within the last 9 months, OPEC members are negotiating to postpone their plan which was proposed to facilitate the voluntary reduction of crude oil production that was set to take place in October.

Warren Peterson from ING Institute believes the oil market is under significant pressure considering long-term worries about China’s demand. Weaker-than-expected purchasing index data at the end of the week cannot reduce these worries so that even supply disruptions in Libya could not compensate for the demand concerns.

On Thursday, crude oil dropped to 72.95 USD. Singapore 180CST decreased by about 15 USD to reach 416 USD.

Bitumen prices in Singapore and South Korea were 502 and 410 USD, respectively.

In Bahrain, the bitumen prices dropped 25 USD to reach 395 USD.

In Europe, bitumen prices were traded at the previous range of 420-480 USD.

Bitumen price in India decreased by about 8 USD on the first September and it is expected to observe another fall in the middle of the month.

Due to some religious holidays in Iran, bitumen prices and shipping costs have not changed but it is expected to follow the trend of oil prices.

To check the latest bitumen prices, visit https://infinitygalaxy.org/bitumen-price-today/.

This article was prepared by Razieh Gilani, the export manager of Infinity Galaxy.