Oil steadies as energy crunch stirs up volatility, recovery concerns

[NEW YORK] Oil steadied after a volatile session on Tuesday, pausing a rally that has brought prices to multi-year highs and raised concerns that higher energy costs could derail the global economic recovery.

Brent crude fell 23 cents to settle at US$83.42 a barrel, after trading from a high of US$84.23 to a low of US$82.72.

On Monday, the global benchmark hit US$84.60, its highest since October 2018.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) ended 12 cents higher at US$80.64 a barrel, after ranging between US$81.62 and US$79.47.

Brent has risen for five consecutive weeks, while WTI has notched seven straight weeks of gains. Both contracts have risen by more than 15 per cent since the start of September.

Authorities from Beijing to Delhi scrambled to fill a yawning power supply gap on Tuesday, roiling global stock and bond markets on worries that rising energy costs will stoke inflation.

Power prices have surged to record highs in recent weeks, driven by shortages in Asia and Europe, with an energy crisis in China expected to last through year end, crimping growth in the world's second-largest economy and top exporter.

In London and southeast England, a tenth of fuel stations remained dry panic fuel buying last month, the Petrol Retailers Association said.

"People are starting to realize that the risk of higher energy prices could derail growth," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "Is energy demand a good thing or a bad thing?"

Persistent supply chain disruptions and inflation pressures are constraining the global economic recovery from the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund said as it cut growth outlooks for the United States and other industrial powers.

In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF trimmed its 2021 global growth forecast to 5.9 per cent from the 6.0 per cent forecast it made in July. It left a 2022 global growth forecast unchanged at 4.9 per cent.

Even as demand grows, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers, known as Opec+, are sticking to plans to restore output gradually rather than quickly.

The price of Brent has surged by more than 60 per cent this year. As well as Opec+ supply restraint, the rally has been spurred by record European gas prices, which have encouraged a switch to oil for power generation in some places.

European gas at the Dutch TTF hub stood at a crude oil equivalent of about US$169 a barrel, based on the relative value of the same amount of energy from each source, Reuters calculations based on Eikon data showed.

REUTERS