Crude Oil Closes: Weighing Energy Demand Outlook Crude oil closed slightly lower and hit a new one-year low

News on Nov.
29, concerns about the outlook for crude oil demand led to sharp fluctuations in crude oil futures prices during the Thanksgiving holiday, mainly due to concerns about weak demand for crude oil due to the prospect of a recession in the United States, U.
S
.
oil futures closed higher on Monday, recovering from the morning decline in the West Texas Intermediate crude contract that briefly erased gains so far this year.

COMEX West Texas Intermediate crude January futures fell 96 cents, or 1.
3 percent
, to settle at $77.
24 a barrel.
According to Dow Jones market data, the front-month contract price as low as $73.
60 is the lowest level
since December 27, 2021.
On ICE Eurex, global benchmark Brent crude fell 44 cents, or 0.
5 percent, to settle at $83.
19 a barrel in January
.
The index fell as low as $80.
61, its lowest intraday level in one month since Jan.
10
.
Brent crude futures, the most actively traded February, rose 18 cents, or 0.
2 percent
, to $83.
89 a barrel.

Gasoline rose 0.
1 percent to $2.
3306 a gallon in December, while heating oil fell 0.
7 percent to $3.
2154 a gallon in December
.
Natural gas prices fell 4.
4 percent in December to close at $
6.
712 per million British thermal units at contract expiration.

Colin Chesinski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management, said oil prices had a tough few days during the Thanksgiving holiday, which appeared to be due to "low volumes, light trading volumes, and fears of another drop in demand.
"

With the return of U.
S.
traders, WTI crude returned to the key level of $75 – a level
that OPEC+ has been defending.
He noted that OPEC began cutting 2 million barrels of oil production last November, when oil prices were around that level
.

Lockdowns and other restrictions are seen as helping to curb crude oil prices
in 2022.
Oil prices soared to a nearly 14-year high after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, with the U.
S.
benchmark crude price closing as high as $123.
20 a barrel on March 8, and Brent crude hitting a high of $127.
98 a barrel on the same day
.

However, Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at UBS, pointed to "one factor that could slow down the fall in oil prices" is the OPEC meeting
scheduled for December 4.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is likely to "further limit the production outlook in hopes of providing a support
for the sell-off in crude oil.
" ”