Americas Daily Oil Summary: US Suggests Navy Coalition Amid Red Sea Attacks

The US Special Envoy for Yemen, Time Lenderking, told Reuters that the government wanted the “broadest possible” maritime coalition to safeguard ships transiting through the Red Sea.

• In US refinery news, Exxon’s Beaumont refinery, Texas will begin a multi-unit turnaround from January 1, according to Bloomberg sources.
• Meanwhile, Firefighters battled a blaze at Marathons 593,000 bpd Galveston Bay Refinery, Texas on Wednesday but there will be no production issues because of it.
• In South America, the Presidents of Venezuela and Guyana are set to meet Thursday in a diplomatic attempt to ease tensions over the latest border dispute escalation.
• Brazil: October oil production was at 3.536mbpd according to ANP figures, -3.5% m/m, +9.2% y/y. Strong Brazil production this year has strongly contributed to non-OPEC supply growth that is weighing on oil prices into late 2023.
• USD: The greenback has extended losses on Thursday, in further reaction to the FOMC's dovish pivot at the December meeting. The weakness has been broad based, which is emphasised by the USD index declining an impressive 1.80% from pre-Fed levels.
• Initial US jobless claims unexpectedly fell to 202k in the Dec 9 week, vs consensus that it would remain steady vs prior week at 220k (which was ultimately revised up to 221k). That’s the lowest reading since hitting 200k in October, and the 2^nd lowest reading in the past 11 months.