Sudden Price Fall
Petroleum and its sub-products experienced a sudden drop last week while the market didn’t expect it in the last month of the year. Reports on supply and demand were the main incentives for the fall. Projections of 2024 demand are not very promising since experts believe that China and several other countries will be slowed down due to economic issues. Recession is what they are mostly warning about. Crude oil supply, on the other hand, is growing quickly due to the removal of the Sanctions on Venezuela. Russia has also outpaced its crude sales with huge discounts.
Bitumen market was also concerned by all these sudden pressures. Prices decreased in many regions but it could not stop the purchases. Several traders believe that these prices are phenomenal compared to the current oil prices; therefore, they are trying to fill their stocks.
In the Middle East, the new steel drum bitumen was in the range of $ 366 – $ 371 and the bulk bitumen was in the range of $ 278 – $ 284. The bulk of Singapore is volatile in the range of $ 460 – $ 470 and South Korea is currently $ 470 – $ 480.
