Goldman Sachs said a potential drop in oil demand from top energy consumer China due to the outbreak of a new coronavirus could hurt crude prices by about $3 per barrel, countering concerns about Middle East supply disruptions.
The outbreak began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei and has spread to the rest of the country, with 440 confirmed cases and nine deaths so far. It has also spread to the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
“Translating the estimated SARS demand impact into 2020 volumes points to a potential 260,000 barrels per day negative shock to global oil demand on average,” Goldman said in a note dated Jan. 21. The estimate includes a 170,000 barrels per day loss of jet fuel demand, it added.
See also: Chinese virus outbreak prompts extra checks at airports, fever scanners to be set up at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport
The bank expects jet fuel markets, including cracks, regrade and Asian differentials, to be hit the most if the outbreak leads to a decline in regional air travel.
Read more via Reuters
EU leaders have asked officials to prepare a blueprint for how the bloc's previously obscure mutual assistance clause would work, host Cyprus said at a summit on Friday, amid doubts ov...
Europe's "biggest, most important question" is whether the United States is ready to be a loyal NATO partner in case of a Russian attack, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the Fin...
Morning Briefing
€2.8bn rail project to reshape Malta’s transport network
Malta plans to build a 24-kilometre light rail line linking St Paul’s Bay to the airport as part of a wide...
Updated 1010
Parliament approves “living wills” law granting patients right to refuse future treatmentParliament has approved legislation introducing "living wills", giving citizens t...
The European Parliament is moving closer to finalising its position on the EU’s next long-term budget, setting the stage for a key institutional milestone in shaping the 2028–2034 Multia...
EU lawmakers have approved new rules aimed at strengthening how failing banks are managed, extending protections to a wider range of institutions and depositors across the bloc.
The p...
Porsche has agreed to sell its stakes in sportscar makers Bugatti and Rimac to a consortium led by a U.S. fund co-founded by a scion of Egypt's billionaire Sawiris family, one of the c...
Greece will no longer be the euro zone's most indebted country by the end of this year, with its public debt set to fall below Italy's, according to sources and data from Italy's new b...
“A company’s workplace culture praised by management, needs to be taken with caution. But when the recognition comes directly from employees, that carries greater weight,” says JONATHAN ...
EU lawmakers have approved new rules aimed at strengthening how failing banks are managed, extending protections to a wider range of institutions and depositors across the bloc.
The p...
Malta Public Transport announces that it will be operating two additional evening trips between Mġarr and Nadur in Gozo on Saturday 18 April 2026 to facilitate passenger travel following...
In line with its mission to drive a truly digital Malta, GO plc is making giga-speed internet the entry point for all business customers, with six months completely free for new Business...
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained at a virtual standstill on Monday with just three crossings in the space of 12 hours, according to shipping data.
The oil prod...
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, say Iran carries out more executions per capita than any other country, and more in total than any nation except China, where reliable fig...
Thousands of Cuban security personnel have begun leaving Caracas after nearly two decades in Venezuela, as Washington ramps up efforts to dismantle the long standing alliance between the...
María Corina Machado is a prominent figure in Venezuela’s opposition. She has reported that one of her closest associates, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was abducted. This occurred mere hours afte...
Russian forces have taken 1,700 square km (656 square miles) of territory in Ukraine this year and are advancing on its so-called fortress belt in Donbas, Moscow's top general said whil...
Russia unleashed its deadliest attack so far this year on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities overnight, killing 16 people, including a 12-year-old child, and wounding scores, i...
