Mid-Day Oil Summary: Brent Rises Above $80/bbl

Crude markets are extending gains with Brent front month rising back above $80/bbl for the first time since 1 December, as focus remains on the disruption to shipping through the Red Sea region and with added support from an expected US crude inventory draw.

• Brent FEB 24 up 1.2% at 80.17$/bbl
• WTI FEB 24 up 1.3% at 74.93$/bbl
• ICE Brent Feb24 Option Expiry – Thursday 21 December 2023 at 19:30BST close. A total of 557mbbls of open Feb24 Brent options positions are currently due to expire on Thursday 21 December. Open interest is 354k for calls contracts and 204k for puts.
• API weekly oil stock data: Crude +0.939mbbl, Cushing +1.85mbbl, Gasoline +0.669mbbl, Distillate +2.74mbbl
• Crude inventories in the ARA region fell 2m bbl to 54.3m bbl in week ending 15 December, falling slightly below the five-year average, Genscape data showed.
• The EIA weekly petroleum inventory data is due for release this afternoon at 10:30 ET.
• Russia remained China’s top crude oil supplier in November with flows to China at 2.19mbpd, up by 9% from October levels and 15.2% higher on the year according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
• Crude exports from Russia via the Transneft system are expected to fall by 4-5% in 2023 according to Transneft CEO Nikolay Tokarev following Russia’s export cut commitment to OPEC+.
• Chinese fuel oil imports in November fell by 33% on the month to 1.21mn tons, General Administration of Customs data showed.
• Diesel and gasoline crack spreads are edging lower ahead of the stocks data. Total US gasoline stocks are this week expected to show a build of +0.88mbpd and distillates a small build of +0.40mbpd according to a Bloomberg survey.
  • US gasoline crack down -0.5$/bbl at 17.96$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack down -1.2$/bbl at 39.54$/bbl