The resource-rich Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in western China will become the center of state-owned energy companies’ reform this year with the launch of a pilot project by the country’s biggest oil and gas producer in the area.
For speculative traders, the last few weeks have offered wonderful trading opportunities across all markets, and provided you have no directional bias, the opportunities are there in abundance.
As we come to the end of another trading year, very few traders would have believed oil would be centre stage along with the US dollar, and as the star of the currency of first reserve continues to shine brightly, that of crude oil continues to flicker and fade as OPEC maintains its policy of taking on the alternative energy providers head on.
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured markets that the Russian economy could withstand the drop in prices despite the ruble’s recent fall.
Mohit Jayachandran is breathing a sigh of relief. The 30-year-old engineer with Fluor Daniel, a multinational engineering and project management company in Gurgaon, near India’s capital New Delhi, says he will be having a decent end-of-year vacation this time, after a long year.
Last week was an interesting one for oil traders, with the rally of Monday promising much, only for this move to be snuffed out during the remainder of the week, as the WTI Light Sweet Crude (USO, quote) contract for January closed close to the open at $65.84 per barrel.
To say the last few days have been a roller coaster ride for commodities would be an understatement, with both oil and gold providing some sensational trading opportunities, but for very different reasons. For gold, it was the Swiss referendum over the weekend, and for oil, it was the OPEC meeting in Vienna.
Brent crude oil (BNO, quote) dipped below $70 on to start the week as the commodity continued to free-fall following OPEC’s decision not to implement a cut. The commodity traded at $68.60 at 8:30 GMT on Monday morning as investors looked to economic data for any indication that the global economy could pick up.
Worries about the division between OPEC members remained a major driver of oil prices on Wednesday and drove Brent crude oil (BNO, quote) lower. The commodity traded at $78.73 at 8:45 GMT as investors kept an eye on the cartel’s debate over whether or not to cut supplies at next week’s meeting.
Brent crude (BNO, quote) oil began the week on a low note after GDP data helped confirm suspicions of a global slowdown. The commodity traded at $78.19 at 8:15 GMT, following surprising reports that Japan had fallen into a recession.
