oil futures rose tuesday as investors assessed data confirming a sharp slowdown in chinas economic growth last year while looking ahead to a pickup in crude demand as the country unwinds its strict covid19 restrictions oils gotten a boost from better than expected chinese gdp industrial production and retail sales numbers which came out overnight said colin cieszynski chief market strategist at sia wealth management with china starting to reopen this news adds to the case for energy demand to increase however chinas economy grew by 3 in 2022 less than half of the previous years 81 rate official data showed tuesday that was the secondlowest annual growth rate since at least the 1970s after 2020 when growth fell to 24 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic chinas covid curbs have been seen as a weight on crude demand but a lifting of restrictions is expected to drive a substantial pickup a surge in covid19 cases however has clouded the nearterm outlook we remain constructive and see asymmetric upside risk to the oil complex this year much of the conviction to our constructive tilt is geared toward 2h23 with chinas reopening as a major driver underpinning that view said michael tran energy strategist at rbc capital markets in a note global crude inventories however are set to build this quarter he wrote we see 2023 as a grind higher rather than gap higher type of market however the first couple of weeks of this year have suggested to us that a disconnect exists for now between the headline driven sentiment mostly centered on chinas reopening and what the physical market and term structure are telling us tran said meanwhile geopolitical tensions continue to flare up between russia and the european union said naeem aslam chief market analyst at avatrade at the world economic forum in davos russia is the target among policy makers once again as are more sanctions on the country he told marketwatch this is basically an event which threatens the supply curve which could pushoil prices higher an eu ban on russian oil product exports is set to kick in on feb 5 because demand has been soft for the last six months supply constraints have been less of an issue but if demand rebounds then sanctions on russia could potentially start to play a larger role in price action once again sia wealth managements cieszynski told marketwatch in a monthly report issued tuesday the organization of the petroleum exporting countries left its forecast for global oildemand growth unchanged however it noted that the outlook remains surrounded by uncertainties including global economic developments shifts in covid19 containment policies and geopolitical tensions