Crude Markets Hold Up Yesterday's Rally

Crude markets are holding up yesterday’s rally which ran up on the news that Turkey had stopped pumping crude from Kurdistan via a pipeline. It followed an arbitration decision that confirmed Baghdad's consent was needed to ship the oil.

• Brent MAY 23 down -0.2% at 77.99$/bbl
• WTI MAY 23 up 0.2% at 72.96$/bbl
• Gasoil APR 23 up 2.3% at 786$/mt
• WTI-Brent up 0.14$/bbl at -5.05$/bbl
• The Brent crude curve is in backwardation but softer than earlier this month with the focus on economic concerns and global oil demand and resilient Russian oil output rather than optimism over the recovery in China which is widely expected in the second half of this year.
• Brent MAY 23-JUN 23 up 0.01$/bbl at 0.37$/bbl
• Brent JUN 23-DEC 23 up 0.03$/bbl at 1.58$/bbl
• Brent DEC 23-DEC 24 up 0.12$/bbl at 3.13$/bbl
• Crude was also held up yesterday after First Citizens BancShares said it would acquire banks and loans of failed SVB bank. Fears in the banking sector has been a key driver of downward pressure on oil in recent weeks.
• Gasoline margins are near the highest since Jul 2022 in the run up towards the summer driving season and with the switch to summer grade gasoline. Prices are also supported by a gradual rebound in US gasoline demand and below normal US inventories.
• US gasoline crack down -0.2$/bbl at 38.38$/bbl
• US ULSD crack up 0.5$/bbl at 38.55$/bbl
• The American Petroleum Institute (API) will publish its inventory data at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday and the U.S. Energy Information Administration at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.