โดยทีมวิเคราะห์ตลาดต่างประเทศ บริษัท ปตท. จำกัด (มหาชน)
- The coronavirus epidemic in China is likely to peak this month and might be over by April, the country's foremost medical adviser on the outbreak, Zhong Nanshan, said on Tuesday. Zhong, an epidemiologist who won fame for his role in combating the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, told reporters that "I hope this outbreak or this event may be over in something like April." He added that new cases are falling in some Chinese provinces.
- the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that 1,017 people had died in China, where there were 42,708 confirmed cases. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that the world must "wake up and consider this enemy virus as public enemy number one." Ghebreyesus urged global unity to prevent "far more cases and far higher costs" from the coronavirus – now officially named COVID-19 – and said that the first vaccine is 18 months away.
- Saudi Arabia wants OPEC+ oil producers to quickly agree to a supply cut in response to China's coronavirus, being aware that delays in the past have led to painful collapses in oil prices, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing sources familiar with Saudi thinking. Last week, a technical panel advising OPEC+ recommended an immediate additional output cut of 600,000 bpd. Nearly all OPEC members have expressed support. These included Venezuela and Iran, who have often in the past been out of step with Saudi Arabia. However, non-OPEC heavyweight Russia has not yet expressed its position, frustrating some others.
- The U.S. EIA has cut its forecast for growth in the world’s oil demand this year by 310,000 bpd, due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. government agency now expects global oil demand to increase in 2020 by 1.03 mil bpd to an average of 101.74 mil bpd. "EIA expects that travel restrictions in response to the coronavirus, along with the related economic slowdown in China, will reduce petroleum demand and keep crude oil prices below $60 per barrel through the first half of this year despite current disruptions to crude oil supply," EIA Administrator Linda Capuano said on Tuesday.
- Industry group the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. crude inventories rose by 6 mil bbls last week, with stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub higher by 1.3 mil bbls.