Earlier in the week, there was a brief return to the optimism in the stock markets and there was a rally when the suggestions had begun emerging that the coronavirus might have already peaked and then China changed the methodology of counting new cases which meant that there was a considerable shooting up in the rally of oil prices. The stocks might have gone up but oil had remained low stubbornly
China has been the second largest consumer in the world of oil after the country of United States, it is again the largest importer in the world of oil and have been accounting for a little over 20% of the exports of global oil. There is no wonder that the prices are going to react to all of the news pieces which have been coming out of the China.
The evident effect of the outbreak has been very much there to see for everyone.
The quarantines have been limiting travel severely and have been dampening the demand for fuel. The refiners of state have cut the rates of processing by one tenth in the month and it is going to be cutting additionally in the month of March. The combined cut in the companies for the month of February has been coming in at close to 940,000 barrels per day as per the reports.
The private refiners have been cutting a lot more with the experts calculating a cut in 25 %. In what is a surprising event, it has been reported that the independent refiners are going on a spree of oil-buying which is going to take the advantage of the lower prices.