Crude Finding Further Recovery

Crude prices are finding further recovery from yesterday’s late dip post EIA data and on reports of a smaller than expected Russian production cut.

• Reuters reported that Russian oil cuts were only 300,000 bpd in the first three weeks of March, falling short of 500,000 bpd expectations.
• Russian crude oil production excluding gas condensate was around 9.78mbpd in the period, down from about 10.07mbpd for the whole of February on average.
• The proposed cut is scheduled from March until the end of June.
• On the upside, oil is being driven by Kurdistan cuts this week. Producers have shut in or reduced output at several oilfields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq following a halt to the northern export pipeline, with more outages on the horizon.
• The "changes in Iraq's domestic politics may lead to a durable political settlement very soon" according to Citi but so far the issues do not have a resolution.
• Brent MAY 23 up 0.8% at 78.88$/bbl
• WTI MAY 23 up 1% at 73.67$/bbl