Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Erases Gains

Crude front month is easing back to trade lower today after reaching a high of $79.09/bbl earlier in the session. cuts have failed to support markets amid uncertainty over future member compliance amid building spare capacity. Ongoing global demand growth concerns combined with stronger than expected non-OPEC supplies have been weighing on prices to offset OPEC production cuts with upside also limited by a stronger US dollar.

• Brent FEB 24 down -0.1% at 77.98$/bbl
• WTI JAN 24 down -0.1% at 73$/bbl
• Calendar: Saudi Aramco is expected to announce the crude official selling prices for January in the coming days with the update typically in the first five days of the month. The API oil inventory data is due for release today at 16:30 ET.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin adviser on foreign affairs, cited by Bloomberg.
• Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
• Russia’s four-week average seaborne crude exports hit a three-month low, amid storms affecting loadings in the Black Sea for the past three weeks.
• Libya cut the Es Sider OSP for December to a discount of 20c/bbl to Dated Brent according to Bloomberg reports and compares with +30c for November.
• Libya is currently producing oil at 1.3mn bpd and is targeting 1.4mn bpd by the end of the year according to the chairman of the National Oil Corporation Farhat Bengdara.
• Chinese refiners are rejecting offers of Venezuelan oil as the price discount falls due to the easing of US sanctions while shipments to India are increasing according to Bloomberg.
• The G7 price cap on Russian oil exports has failed, despite the recent added pressure on vessels transporting Russian oil above the cap, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said.
• The average import price of Russian crude to India, including shipping and insurance, rose in October to 84.47$/bbl according to government data.
• Gasoline cracks are easing back slightly despite rising demand rising last week according to GasBuddy data. US front month gasoline crack is trading at the highest since September having risen from 7.48$/bbl in mid October to 16.8$/bbl.
  • US gasoline crack down -0.2$/bbl at 16.65$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack up 0.3$/bbl at 38.98$/bbl