ECB rate hikes superimposed sluggish demand Oil prices fluctuated at high levels

The ECB's interest rate hike superimposed sluggish demand and high oil prices fluctuated
.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict continued this week, and oil prices as a whole fluctuated above $100/bbl under the influence of expectations of a recession triggered by interest rate hikes
in Europe.
Demand side: 1) This week, the European Central Bank announced a 50bp interest rate hike, and the impact of lower than expected crude oil demand in the summer peak season is gradually emerging; 2) The retail price of gasoline in the United States fell below $4.
50/gallon this week, the lowest level in nearly two months; 3) Russia restarted the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline this week, while the European Union recommended that member states cut gas consumption by 15%
over the next 8 months 。 Supply side: 1) Saudi Arabia had little effect during Biden's visit, and Saudi Arabia said it may not be able to increase actual crude oil production; 2) Russia became China's largest monthly crude oil importer for two consecutive months in May and June this year, and the average monthly import price of Russian oil was significantly lower than that of Saudi Arabia; 3) Russian oil production rose for three consecutive months from May, but the recovery slowed in July; 4) Libyan oil fields are exposed to force majeure and production is expected to recover to 1.
2 million bpd
in the coming week.

U.
S.
crude inventories fell, drilling numbers were flat and refinery operating rates fell
.
U.
S.
commercial crude oil inventories (excluding strategic reserves of petroleum) were 427 million barrels, down 440,000 barrels from the previous week, and crude oil inventories were about 6% lower than the same period over the past five years; U.
S.
gasoline inventories totaled 228 million barrels, up 3.
5 million barrels from the previous week, and gasoline inventories were about 3 percent lower than the same period over the past five years; Distillate inventories were 113 million barrels, down 1.
3 million barrels from the previous week and about 23%
lower than the same period over the past five years.
Propane/propylene inventories increased by 1.
4 million barrels
.
The U.
S.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by 5 million barrels at 480 million barrels
.
Total U.
S.
commercial inventories rose 1.
14 million barrels
.
Total U.
S.
refinery processing averaged 16.
32 million barrels per day, down 321,000 barrels from the previous week; The refinery operating rate was 93.
7%, down 1.
2 percentage points from
the previous week.
U.
S.
crude oil imports averaged 6.
52 million barrels per day last week, down 160,000 barrels
from the previous week.
U.
S.
crude oil production on July 15 was 11.
9 million bpd, down 100,000 bpd from the previous week and 500,000 bpd up from a year ago
.
On July 22, 599 oil production rigs in the United States were unchanged from the previous week, an increase of 212 units per
year.

Ethylene, propylene, PTA, PX continued their decline
.
Ethylene prices in Northeast Asia continued to decline, and by July 21, ethylene CFR Northeast Asia closed at $860/mt, down 3.
37%
month-on-month.
Ethylene production during the week was 736,000 tons, up 1.
02%
month-on-month.
Acrylic prices in Northeast Asia continued their decline, and by July 20, propylene CFR China closed at $915/mt, down 1.
61%
month-on-month.
Downstream related products, polypropylene powder, propylene oxide prices have shown a slight downward trend, n-butanol, octanol prices rose
slightly.
PX prices continued to decline, as of July 20, the Asian PX market closed at 1040.
33 yuan / ton, down 5.
36%
week-on-week.
During the week, the average operating rate of PX in China was 76.
79%, the average operating rate in Asia was 67.
8%, and the domestic operating rate rose
week-on-week.
Starting from June 9, 2022, Jiujiang Petrochemical will add 890,000 tons of PX units, and the production capacity of China will be 32.
63 million tons.

PTA prices continued to decline, to the week of July 22, the spot price of PTA in East China was 5729 yuan / ton, and the weekly average price fell by 9.
96%
month-on-month.
Domestic PTA production during the week was 1,005,300 tons, down 62,100 tons
from the previous week.
Downstream polyester weekly production was 1.
0397 million tons, up 0.
38%
from the previous week.
As of July 21, the comprehensive operating rate of chemical fiber weaving in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was 45.
51%, down 1.
40%
from the previous week.