International oil prices are rising as Beijing and Shanghai decide to ease the COVID lockdown.
Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, surpassed $120 per barrel in Asian trading on Thursday. It is the first time in two months that Brent crude has surpassed $120 since March 25. Texas Intermediate (WTI) also rose to around $116 per barrel.
International oil prices rose on this day because not only Shanghai but also Beijing eased regulations related to COVID.
As COVID-19 has been easing in China to some extent, Shanghai announced that regulations on companies will be lifted from June 1, and Beijing announced that it will reopen some public transportation and some multi-use facilities.
If China relaxes the blockade, the economy will normalize and demand for crude oil will surge.
In addition to China’s easing of the blockade, the EU’s push to ban Russian oil imports also seems to be affecting the rise in international oil prices.
The European Union (EU) governments have not reached an agreement on a full ban on Russian crude oil, but the proposal to ban sea transport and allow only transportation through pipelines has reached a considerable consensus, Reuters said.
As the number of confirmed cases per day in Beijing and Shanghai has decreased significantly, Chinese authorities have begun to ease quarantine measures.
In the case of Beijing, the number of confirmed patients fell below 30 on the 26th, and then decreased from 24 on the 27th and 21 on the 28th to 12 on the same day. Since the 25th of last month, Beijing has taken measures such as large-scale nucleic acid tests and restaurants suspending meals, closing parks, suspending public transportation, and recommending working from home. Thousands of residents in some confirmed cases were sent to quarantine facilities.
The decline in confirmed cases in Shanghai is faster. Shanghai City fell below 1,000 in 54 days to 938 confirmed cases on the 15th, and fell below 100 in two weeks to 67 confirmed cases on the 29th. Shanghai began to block the entire city from early April as the number of confirmed cases increased to hundreds from mid-March.
