Americas Daily Oil Summary: Whiting Refinery Offline for Three Weeks

BP is planning to keep the 435kbpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery shut for three weeks for inspections of units and piping after a power outage shut the facility on 1 February, sources told Reuters.

• BP said in a statement Thursday that it “is making progress on the work to restore the refinery to normal operations.”
• US oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips plans to boost production this year by around 6% with the midpoint of around 1.93m b/d. Its output in 2023 rose to average 1.82m b/d.
• The US Energy Department is seeking 3m bbl of sour crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for July 1-31 delivery.
• Venezuela has vowed to respond forcefully if drilling to start in the contested waters off Guyana, according to the AFP.
• ExxonMobil has insisted that it will explore the oil rich Essequibo region, contested between Guyana and Venezuela, despite risks that the move could escalate regional tensions, according to The Guardian.
• USD: Mixed price action across G10 on Thursday saw the USD index tilt marginally into positive territory, rising 0.1%. This was dominated by a strong 0.75% move higher in USDJPY, although major drivers for the greenback remained limited as we approach tomorrow’s US CPI annual revisions.
• Initial jobless claims record a seasonally adjusted 218k (cons 220k) in the week to Feb 3 after last week’s surprise increase was revised a little higher to 227k (initial 224k).