India tricks the West, Strong dollar & China imports russian oilOil top might be in for this year.
Reasons:
1. Market adjustment mechanisms are underway on the commodity markets, ensuring that Russian oil, which is spurned by the West, once again finds its buyers (india, china). This in turn causes these countries to demand less Brent or WTI oil, which again depresses prices. India and China are buying significantly more crude oil from Russia, Europe less, which means there is a balancing out taking place on the world markets with the new tanker routes and transportation routes.
2. India recently bought more oil from Russia than ever before, according to a recent report by the Finnish Energy and Clean Air Research Center. "A significant portion of the crude is re-exported as refined oil products, including to the U.S. and Europe, an important loophole to close," the Finnish analysts warned. Since new sanctions measures are very unlikely, the alignment process between Russian oil and Brent and WTI crudes is likely to continue.
3. Dollar price, interest hikes & recession fears by FED. The strong dollar is also acting as an additional burden on the oil market. This is because commodities such as oil are traded in dollars. If you read between the lines of the FED, they're doing their best to crush commodity and oil prices to crush long-speculators on comm and oil.
4. Fear of new lockdowns in China. Chinese head of state Xi Jinping nevertheless only recently announced that he would stick to the strict zero-covid strategy. This is fueling fears of new lockdowns in China = downside risk for oil demand in China, probably a small impact, since the gov in China is trying its best to avoid a greater corona outbreak in large cities to stabilise eco. situation.
5. bitcoin/tradional markets are sometimes seen as counterparts to oil. Bitcoin, despite very bad news (CPI increased) and being a risk asset, has not moved much further down in price, showing that risky assets have more or less found their bottom while oil bulls have an empty tank.
Opinion: I see the price cooling down slowly rather than continuing to climb, probably going towards 70-60$ in the next 6-10 months.
! This is not an investment advise! Do your own research! This is NOT a recommendation to buy or sell oil shares and this is NOT a recommendation to short or to long oil!
