Back From Best Levels; $110 Test Eyed For WTI

WTI is ~+$1.80 (owing to having no settlement on Monday due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday) and Brent is virtually unchanged at typing, with the former backing away from one-week highs made earlier in the session, operating a shade above $110 at typing.

• Brent’s prompt spread has risen above $4 at typing, pointing to still-intensifying backwardation in oil markets amidst elevated worry re: tightness in global crude supplies.
• Previously-flagged strikes in Norway’s O&G sector will begin today. While earlier RTRS reports have estimated crude output to decline by ~130K bpd, the offshore managers' union Lederne expanded their demands on Monday, with closures at three more facilities scheduled for Jun 9 (estimated additional ~160K reduction in crude output).
• Elsewhere, Ecuador has announced that crude production is back above 90% of pre-shutdown levels, at ~462K bpd.
• Turning to China, while the eastern province of Anhui (current outbreak epicentre) reported fewer fresh COVID cases for Monday, daily case counts have continued to tick a little higher across the rest of the economically important Yangtze Delta region, particularly in Jiangsu province (bordering Shanghai).