Consolidation After Wednesday's Dip

WTI & Brent sit a handful of cents higher vs. settlement levels at typing, with the benchmarks holding to fairly tight ranges in Asia-Pac hours. This comes after a fairly busy round of oil-related news flow on Wednesday, although most suggested that the stronger USD was the main protagonist as WTI & Brent shed over $1.00 apiece come settlement time.

• Russian Energy Minister Novak suggested that global oil demand has recovered, to sit as high as 90% of pre-COVID levels. He went on to note that Moscow will suggest that OPEC+ react to these developments, flagging his expectations for a full oil demand recovery at some point in 2021. This came as Iraq drew some focus, with reports exacerbating worry re: the country's compliance to the OPEC+ production pact, although the country's oil authority was quick to play down the speculation surrounding the matter.
• Elsewhere, WSJ source reports suggested that Saudi Aramco is "delaying by a year plans, announced in March, to boost crude production capacity to 13mn bpd, from currently about 12mn bpd."
• Also on the supply front, BSEE suggested that ~20% of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil production remains shut in in the wake of the recent Hurricane. Also on the U.S. front, the latest weekly DoE crude inventory data revealed sharper than expected drawdowns for headline crude, distillate and gasoline stocks, while stocks at Cushing experienced a very modest build.