Crude Off Intraday Lows, Hurricane Beryl Threat To Texan Refining

Oil prices are down today but off the intraday lows as Hurricane Beryl approaches Texas. WTI is down 0.3% to $82.94/bbl after breaking below $83 earlier today and falling to $82.71. It reached $83.32 early in the session. Brent is 0.1% lower at $86.43 off the low of $86.27 which followed a high of $86.92. The USD index is flat.

• Tropical Storm Beryl has been reclassified as a hurricane again and is forecast to make the Texan coast today, possibly impacting coastal refining and shipping facilities, which would reduce crude demand. Exxon Mobil only sees a small impact on its output from Beryl. Shell’s Perdido platform was in the path of the storm and was shutdown and evacuated by July 4. Shell has 20.9kbd in US offshore waters.
• In the north, fires threaten Alberta’s oil fields again.
• Market indicators continue to signal bullish sentiment with money market net longs up for the fourth consecutive week and the Brent prompt spread in backwardation, according to Bloomberg. Risks from nature and signs of robust US demand from last week’s EIA inventory report have boosted confidence.
• The market will be focusing on this week’s monthly reports from OPEC (Wednesday), EIA (Tuesday) and IEA (Thursday) as well as US June CPI (Thursday).
• Later there are US May consumer credit and June NY Fed inflation expectations and German May trade data. BoE’s Haskel speaks.