Data from China showed that while no new coronavirus variant has been found there, the country has under-represented how many people have died in its recent, rapidly spreading outbreak, World Health Organization officials said.U.S. manufacturing contracted further in December, dropping for a second straight month to 48.4 from 49.0 in November, in the weakest reading since May 2020, the Institute for Supply Management said.
The Chinese government increased export quotas for refined oil products in the first batch for 2023, signaling expectations of poor domestic demand. OPEC oil output rose in December, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday, despite an agreement by the wider OPEC+ alliance to cut production targets to support the market.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 29 million barrels per day last month, the survey found, up 120,000 bpd from November.