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| Today, January 14th, gasoline and oil prices worldwide saw a week of declines despite escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. (Source: Oilprice) |
Oil prices began the trading week with a sharp drop of over 3%, heavily impacted by Saudi Arabia's decision to cut the price of Arab Light crude oil delivered to Asian markets by $2 next month and OPEC's increased production in December 2023. Consequently, Arab Light crude oil fell to just $1.50 per barrel – its lowest level in 27 months.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, coupled with the closure of Libya's Sharara oil field (with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day) and the resulting supply disruptions, supported Brent and WTI crude oil prices, which rose by approximately 2% in the second trading session of the week.
According to Reuters , the Israeli military said the fight against Hamas will continue this year, raising concerns that the Israel-Hamas conflict could escalate into a regional crisis.
However, the upward momentum in oil prices was quickly interrupted by data showing a surprising surge in US crude oil inventories, raising concerns about demand in the largest oil market.
At the close of trading on the third day of the week, oil prices fell nearly $1 after data from the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) showed that U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose by 1.3 million barrels to 432.4 million barrels in the week ending January 5, contrary to analysts' expectations of a 700,000 barrel decrease in a Reuters poll. According to the EIA, gasoline inventories also increased by 8 million barrels, and distillate product inventories rose by 6.5 million barrels.
News of Iran's seizure of the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker St. Nikolas off the coast of Oman sent oil prices up about 1% in Wednesday's trading session. Oil prices lost some of their early gains after data showed US consumer inflation in December 2023 rose 3.4% year-on-year, higher than the 3.2% increase expected by economists surveyed by Reuters . The higher-than-expected inflation dampened expectations of a Fed interest rate cut in March.
Oil prices fluctuated, rising and falling over the first four trading sessions of the week. However, in the fifth session, prices broke away from this pattern and maintained the upward momentum seen in the fourth session.
Despite gaining an additional 1% due to the impact of more oil tankers diverting from the Red Sea following overnight air and sea attacks by the US and UK on Houthi targets, oil prices this week marked a decline, with Brent crude falling 0.5% to $78.29 per barrel and WTI crude falling 1.1% to $72.68 per barrel.
A notable point this week was that Brent crude oil prices briefly surged above $80 per barrel, and WTI crude oil touched $75.25 per barrel – the highest level recorded so far this year.
The retail prices of gasoline and diesel in Vietnam on January 14th are as follows:
E5 RON 92 gasoline should not exceed 21,041 VND/liter. RON 95-III gasoline should not exceed 21,935 VND/liter. Diesel fuel prices should not exceed 19,707 VND/liter. Kerosene should not exceed 20,331 VND/liter. Fuel oil price should not exceed 15,815 VND/kg. |
The aforementioned domestic retail prices of petroleum products were slightly adjusted upwards at the price adjustment meeting of the inter-ministerial committee of Finance and Industry and Trade on the afternoon of January 11th. Kerosene prices increased the most, by 374 VND/liter; RON 95-III gasoline prices increased the least, by 19 VND/liter.
During this price adjustment period, the inter-ministerial committee allocated 300 VND/kg to the Price Stabilization Fund for fuel oil, but did not allocate funds for gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, and did not use the Price Stabilization Fund for any of these commodities.
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