Oil up 4% on positive Chinese economic data

The bleak outlook for the global economy as a whole has combined with the concerns of the trade war to put pressure on prices in recent days, but today's economic data from China has raised oil price Wednesday afternoon.

At 12:17 pm Eastern Standard Time, WTI crude traded up 4.21% for a gain of $ 2.27, to $ 56.21 a barrel. Brent traded at $ 60.68, up 4.15% for a gain of $ 2.42 per barrel.

The rise in oil prices is explained by the favorable economic data provided by a private survey of the service sector in China, which showed that in August, growth had been the fastest in the last three months, which led to a wave of hiring activities to support him. – The largest increase in hiring in the sector in more than a year.

China, a major consumer of crude oil, imported 10.64 million bpd in April, a new record for China. And its crude oil imports in the first half represented an increase of 8.8% over the previous year, or 800,000 b / d. Growth here accounts for almost all of the growth in global demand for the year. It is therefore logical that all eyes turn to China's economic data as well as to the trade war with the United States.

Chinese imports of major oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec for the month of August rose 2.03% from July, which is higher than the 1.25% rise recorded in July. It is expected that the two major oil companies are still processing more crude oil this month, while refinery maintenance will slow down.

Oil prices should also react later in the day to the API estimate of crude oil inventories in the United States and again tomorrow in the EIA's appreciation of inventory movements.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More from Top Reads by Oilprice.com: