By Laura Sanikola (Reuters) – Oil prices reversed trade on Monday amid fears that supply could be curtailed by a possible European Union ban on Russian crude. Futures rose 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $ 107.21 a barrel at 12:32 p.m. Both benchmarks fell more than $ 2.00 earlier in the day on the news that the European Commission may exempt Hungary and Slovakia from the Russian oil embargo as it prepares to finalize its next round of sanctions on Russia on Tuesday. “Attention was quickly drawn to expectations that a full embargo was unlikely to be seen for months and possibly by the end of the year, given the need for most countries to provide alternative sources of supply,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates. Gallena, Illinois. . The EU is pushing for a ban on Russian oil imports by the end of the year, according to two EU diplomats, following talks between the European Commission and EU member states at the weekend. About half of Russia’s 4.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude exports go to the EU, supplying about a quarter of the bloc’s oil imports by 2020. While Western countries have refrained from buying Russian oil due to sanctions on these exports, the impact on global supply has somewhat diminished as India receives Russian cargo at a big discount. On the demand side, U.S. plant activity grew at a slower pace in nearly two years in April, according to a Supply Management Institute (ISM) survey on Monday. However, the ISM National Factory Index fell to 55.4 points last month, which is still considered a sign of expansion. “US economic data is still pointing to expansion in manufacturing, far from a number of recessions,” said Phil Flynn, a market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. Markets in Japan, Britain, India and across Southeast Asia were closed due to public holidays on Monday. China released data on Saturday showing that factory activity in the world’s second-largest economy shrank for the second month in a row to its lowest level since February 2020 due to COVID restrictions. “A slowdown to this extent, when China is already suffering from real estate collapse and worried about its (until recently) increased legislation, is potentially a major issue for commodity markets and the global economy,” said Tobin Gorey, a commodity analyst. of the Commonwealth Bank. he said in a note. On the supply side, Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Sunday it would temporarily resume operations at the Zueitina oil terminal after declaring force majeure in late April on several missions as political protesters forced a series of oil rigs to shut down. their operation.
