Crude Holds Gains As Russia Output Cut Extended to July

Crude is holding onto gains seen this morning as Russia says the pledged oil output cut for March is set to be in force until July.

• Prices are still below the levels seen on Friday before the most recent decline driven by the global banking fears. Oil markets were already trending lower due to resilient Russian oil output combined with central bank rate tightening and recession fears
• Crude time spreads are following the moves with Dec23-Dec24 still near the lowest since Dec 2021. The front of the WTI curve is in contango until July but Brent remain in backwardation.
• Several oil analysts suggest oil market fundamentals are still strong with limited storage or upside supply potential to cover for a rebound in China demand this year.
• Next technical support for Brent is at the round number support of 70$/bbl and for WTI is at the 20 Mar low of 64.36$/bbl.


• Brent MAY 23 up 1.4% at 74.82$/bbl
• WTI MAY 23 up 1.6% at 68.89$/bbl
• Brent MAY 23-JUN 23 up 0.02$/bbl at 0.27$/bbl
• Brent JUN 23-DEC 23 up 0.32$/bbl at 1.43$/bbl
• Brent DEC 23-DEC 24 up 0.41$/bbl at 2.41$/bbl