Oil closes a choppy day, OPEC+ and China watching | international

Oil prices closed mixed on Tuesday, in a market awaited OPEC+ is attentive to the situation in China and its anti-virus measures. The price of a barrel of WTI for January delivery rose 1.24% to close at $78.20 in the New York market.

Meanwhile, in London, the price of a barrel Brent North Sea crude for delivery for the same period fell 0.19%, trading at $83.03. Before the lockdown, “prices rose in anticipation of an improvement in the health situation in China, following the protests,” which pressured the government to ease health restrictions, Edward Moya of OANDA said.

(Read: Chevron Returns to Venezuela But It Won’t Solve the Energy Crisis.)

For the first time in several weeks, the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in China decreased in 24 hoursless than 40,000 According to the National Health Commission (NHC).

Prices were boosted earlier in the day by the prospect of another production cut from OPEC and allies within the OPEC+ group when they meet next Sunday, said Susannah Streeter of Hargreaves Lansdowne.

But mailThis trend lost momentum when he learned that the meeting would be by videoconferencing.a. “This increases the likelihood that nothing will change,” according to Mizuho’s Robert Yawger.

France Press agency