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

Crude markets are extending gains today to the highest since 1 February after Wednesday’s hawkish comments from Israel’s Netanyahu that appear to undermine the prospect of a ceasefire agreement for Gaza.

• Brent APR 24 up 1.1% at 80.06$/bbl
• WTI MAR 24 up 1% at 74.63$/bbl
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv, has told reporters yesterday that Israel, "will not suffice with less," than a decisive victory in their war against Hamas. Netanyahu: "We are on our way to that decisive victory. Its in our hands. It's not a matter of week but it is a matter of months."
• Talks are scheduled to continue on Thursday in Egypt according to i24 News, citing to the Lebanese-based Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar.
• The attacks in the Red Sea have become increasingly dangerous in the last days and the level of threats have likely not peaked yet, CEO Vincent Clerc said.
• India’s BPCL has not faced any disruptions in Russian oil deliveries amid G7 sanctions, Sanjay Khanna, director for refineries, said.
• Oil demand is better than expected in the first week of February with a boost in China from the Lunar New Year holiday and with better weather in the US and Asia according to JPMorgan.
• DNO’s oil production in the Kurdistan region has largely recovered to levels seen before the shutdown of the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan in March 2023, while the output is now sold domestically at a discount, the firm said.
• ExxonMobil has insisted that it will explore the oil rich Essequibo region, contested between Guyana and Venezuela, despite risks that the move could escalate regional tensions, according to The Guardian.
• Singapore’s distillate stocks fell 0.65% on the week to Feb 7 to 7.039m bbl, according to Reuters citing Enterprise Singapore data.
• BP is planning to keep the 435kbpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery shut for three weeks for inspections of units and piping after a power outage shut the facility on 1 February, sources told Reuters.
• Front month refinery margins in Europe and Asia rose by $1.70/bbl and $0.50/bbl in the past week respectively according to Onyx Flux.
• The rise in US demand has added to concern for tighter supplies due to Red Sea tanker diversions and planned and unplanned refinery outages. Gasoline and diesel cracks rallied again yesterday to levels near or at the highest since September.
  • US gasoline crack up 0.4$/bbl at 21.68$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack up 0.4$/bbl at 44.85$/bbl