Weekly Oil Report: The New Struggle, UP or Down?

Traders have been hesitant to buy crude oil. Meanwhile, the bitumen market was alive in the Middle East. Brent closed at $79.16 and WTI settled at $74.47 on Friday, 16 Dec. https://youtu.be/w4MVwSNNKng As shown in the last week’s chart, the wedge is still valid. The price is near the bottom line and it shows a weakness in selling pressure but there was no significant movement upward. Last week, crude opened with growth but on Thursday, the price fell due to an interest rate increase by US, ECB and UK. The news stimulated dollars and damped crude and gold. IEA reported more demand in 2023. China’s comeback is one of the essentials in its demand outlook. At the moment, however, China’s report shows a severe increase in covid cases. The county was not ready to loosen covid zero policies and many might die due to the virus spread. Once again, fuel was highly volatile during the week. One day it had a $15 decrease and the next day it was up by $14. The overall volatilities ended with a $5 decrease. India reduced the bitumen price by $19.5 but Iran continued the competition over the vacuum bottom. The existence of both bullish and bearish fundamentals is making it hard for traders to see the future. Below, you can check several bitumen prices in different regions.

Location	Price
Iran (drum)	$385 - $395
Singapore	$495 - $500
South Korea	$365 - $370
Bahrain	$370 - $380
Spain	$335 - $340