The oil price yesterday was at US$56 per barrel. Oil & Energy Insider's statement (BELOW) that US$60 per barrel of oil is no longer a floor price reflects market sentiment across the board.
And it looks like this weak sentiment will prevail for a while. And like I mentioned a few days back this weak oil price is despite the war in Ukraine, sanctions against Iran and the tensions in Venezuela.
Donald Trump is not in favour of prolonging the war in Ukraine and a major split between the US and the European Union nutjobs has already cracked wide open. The latest development (yesterday Friday Dec 19, 2025) is that Belgium, Hungary and the Slavic countries have disagreed with the EU on confiscating Russian financial assets frozen in the West to pay for the Ukrainian weapons purchases by the EU/Nato goons.
"I steal your money kept in my banks to pay for weapons that I manufacture that are used to fight a war against you". Isnt that a neat piece of thievery?
So the war in Ukraine will end soon. Then what will happen to the oil prices? It will go down even more.
The biggest threat to world oil prices are China's decreasing imports of crude oil. This bar chart here shows China's STAGNANT TO DECREASING oil imports (red coloured bar) from 2020 to 2024. This is the single largest threat to world oil prices.
China is the world's largest importer and consumer of oil. If they buy less oil, the oil prices will crash. This is happening now.
How does oil below US$60 per barrel affect our Budget planning?
"The price per barrel of oil used in Malaysia's 2026 Budget planning, which was presented in October 2025, was USD 70 per barrel".
The Budget was calculated using oil prices at US$70 per barrel. Oil price is now at US$56 per barrel. So how now brown cows? Will any of the professor kangkungs please make some wild horse statements? Like "printing money is a good option".
I have only one question: when will our domestic harga minyak turun?
