Marginally Lower In Asia

WTI & Brent crude futures sit ~$0.40 below their respective settlement levels as we work towards the end of Asia-Pac dealing, with the modest moderation coming on the back of an impressive 4-day win streak that has seen WTI & Brent crude futures add comfortably over $10/bbl.

• This comes after the benchmarks lodged gains of ~$3 on Monday, with a surge higher in U.S. gasoline futures, optimism surrounding the Chinese COVID situation, a marginally softer USD and Libyan supply issues all feeding into the bid.
• This more than offset the impact of weaker than expected Chinese economic activity data for the month of April.
• Note that the EU continues to look to enforce an embargo of Russian crude products, although the group’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has noted that the foreign ministers of Union countries have passed the matter back over to ambassadors. Borrell pointed to technical complications and the need for time, indicating that it could take one to two weeks to get the measures over the line.
• Weekly U.S. API crude inventory estimates are due after hours on Tuesday.