Americas Daily Oil Summary: US Delays Return of Crude to SPR

The Biden administration has allowed a two-year extension for oil companies to return 15.3m bbl of crude that had been loaned from the SPR, Argus said.

• The U.S. has raised the price it is willing to pay to refill the strategic petroleum reserves to as much as $79.99/bbl
• Exxon Mobil’s Baton Rouge 523kbd refinery shut its 110kbd Pipestill 9 crude unit and several associated units for planned work according to Bloomberg sources.
• An Exxon Mobil led consortium in Guyana has achieved peak production of 252,000 bpd from its Liza Unity production vessel, Exxon officials said on Wednesday.
• Canadian oil-sands output will increase by about 0.5m b/d by 2030, higher than previously forecasted, according to Platts.
• Brazil’s diesel imports have risen in recent months, with April volumes at 7.8m bbl, compared to 6.9m bbl in February, according to Platts Oil Market Podcast.
• USD: The greenback flipped from being best performer across the G10 to worst (DXY currently -0.3%) after the surprise increase in initial jobless claims to its highest since Aug’23, with markets particularly sensitive to softer labour data.
• US DATA: Initial jobless claims saw a large surprise higher at a seasonally adjusted 231k (cons 212k) in the week to May 4 after a marginally upward revised 209k (initial 208k). This is the highest single week since Aug 2023.