Crude Steady As OPEC Cuts Weighed Against Weak Demand

Crude futures and spreads remain stable today with the market balancing economic driven demand concerns against the OPEC production cuts from next month while uncertainty remains over the China recovery this year.

• The lack of price swings this week and muted volatility reaction is potentially a sign that OPEC’s aim to reduce the market speculation and selling pressures from the wider market is working in the short term.
• The Brent Jun-Jul spread is trading just below the highs of 0.44$/bbl from 4 April while the Dec23-Dec24 spread is just below the recent high of 5.94$/bbl.
• The WTI-Brent spread is hovering around -4.4$/bbl supported by falling Cushing stocks and with Midland WTI added to the Dated Brent benchmark from the June delivery onwards.
  • Brent JUN 23 up 0.4% at 85.36$/bbl
  • WTI MAY 23 up 0.3% at 80.89$/bbl
  • WTI-Brent down -0.08$/bbl at -4.46$/bbl
  • Brent JUN 23-JUL 23 up 0.06$/bbl at 0.43$/bbl
  • Brent JUN 23-DEC 23 up 0.06$/bbl at 3.5$/bbl
  • Brent DEC 23-DEC 24 unchanged at 5.55$/bbl