Chinese demand side issues provided headwinds...>

OIL: Chinese demand side issues provided headwinds for the space in early

dealing this week, with suggestions that the recent Coronavirus outbreak and

subsequent lockdowns have knocked 20% off of Chinese crude demand. Subsequently,

RTRS source reports pointed to a ~600K bpd cut in Sinopec throughput for the

month of February. WTI & Brent sit $0.10 and $0.40 below their respective

settlement levels.

- Elsewhere, OPEC+ is seemingly set to hold a JTC meeting on Tuesday & Wednesday

of this week, with the meeting revolving around the very same Coronavirus. The

JTC will decide if the OPEC+ ministerial meeting (scheduled for March) is to be

rolled forwards.

- Going back to Friday, the latest RTRS OPEC survey pointed to multi-year lows

in cartel production, but that isn't stopping wider calls for deeper production

cuts.

- Finally, local reports confirmed a modest uptick in Russian crude output in

the month of January, in line with recent source reports.