Oil marketing companies continued to wait-and-see stance

Shafaq News / Oil prices remained almost unchanged on Saturday as oil marketing companies continued to wait-and-see stance despite the resilient and range-bound nature of oil pricing.

Oil prices closed slightly higher on Thursday, helped by late-day buying in a low-volume session to close out the week.

The market built gains overnight as Britain and the European Union reached a post-Brexit trade deal, reversed those gains, and then rebounded during the U.S. session to end modestly higher.

So far, U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 still under 50$ a barrel, it rose 18 cents at 48.30 dollars a barrel while Brent crude futures settled higher than 50 $ but losing 13 cents with 51.73$.

 Volumes were light on the last trading day before the Christmas holiday.

For the week, U.S. crude fell 1.6% while Brent lost 2%.

Markets have rallied sharply since late October as vaccines progressed to approval in numerous countries. Worldwide, infections are still growing, and investors’ outlook will be clouded by the pandemic for several months.

“While the Brexit deal is supportive, the impact of COVID is the dominant driver in the oil market,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, in Houston, Texas. “The oil market is waiting for the wider distribution of vaccines to get the public back on the road and in the air.”