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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery added 67 cents to $81.22 on the New York Merc, while Brent for February lost nine cents to $86.88 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $29.07 to WTI, unchanged. Natural gas for January lost 19 cents to $6.74. The TSX energy index lost 3.17 points to close at 256.41.

Oil prices had another volatile day. In a year-ahead outlook, the head of global commodities research at Bank of America's BofA Securities, Francisco Blanch, predicted a drop in prices if the world enters a recession -- but also noted that China could trigger a "substantial" rise in demand by loosening its COVID restrictions, thus supporting prices. Meanwhile, traders continued to marvel at yesterday's bullish U.S. inventory report (which showed that crude inventories plunged by 12.6 million barrels last week, sharply exceeding analysts' predictions of a drop of 3.1 million barrels). Eyes are also on Sunday's OPEC+ meeting and Monday's deadline for the European Union to agree on a price cap for Russian oil.

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