Little Changed In Asia, Fresh Cycle Highs Hit

WTI & Brent crude futures are little changed during Asia-Pac dealing after registering fresh cycle highs early in the session. News flow has been relatively light overnight, with a very modest downtick in U.S. e-mini equity futures perhaps helping crude away from highs.

• This comes after a rally on Wednesday, which saw the space receive support from a surprise headline drawdown in crude stockpiles per the DoE, which was accompanied by a drawdown in stocks at the Cushing hub and larger than expected drawdowns in both gasoline & distillate stocks, in addition to a downtick in weekly crude production (providing a more bullish outcome than Tuesday evening's inventory estimates from the API).
• An uptick in the S&P 500 also supported crude, while the Saudi Energy Minister played down chances of: an imminent, larger than pencilled in rise in crude production for OPEC+.
• Elsewhere, there was a call for continued upside in crude prices from the Iraqi oil minister (pointing to the potential for $100/bbl prices in Q1/Q222).
• These factors allowed crude prices to reverse their early losses on Wednesday, resulting in the aforementioned cycle highs.