Directionless In Asia; Supply Picture Remains Tight

WTI and Brent have pared an earlier, minor bid to sit virtually unchanged at typing, operating comfortably around the middle of their respective ranges on Thursday.

• To recap, both benchmarks shed ~$2 on Thursday on worry re: a Fed-led economic slowdown, although fresh comments from Fed Chair Powell pledging “unconditional” commitment to the Fed’s inflation fight ultimately saw WTI and Brent remain clear of their respective five-week lows seen on Wednesday.
• The prompt spread for Brent has hit multi-month highs at around ~$3.60, widening ~$0.80 on a week-on-week basis, pointing to the potential for near-term tightness in crude supplies.
• Looking to the U.S., there was little by way of concrete action out of a meeting between Energy Sec. Granholm and oil executives, keeping in mind recent pressure on the Biden administration to rein in energy prices.
• Elsewhere, RTRS source reports have pointed to no change in plans from OPEC+ re: planned output increases for August, with the group’s well-documented difficulty in hitting collective production quotas likely to limit the impact of the move.