Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Slips

Crude markets are pulling back today after Saudi Aramco said it is not necessarily abandoning capacity expansion plans, extending earlier declines amid thin trading volumes due to holidays in Asia.

• Brent APR 24 down -1.1% at 81.25$/bbl
• WTI MAR 24 down -1.1% at 75.98$/bbl
• The United Kingdom Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency reported an incident 40 nautical miles south of Yemen’s Al Mukha early on Monday. The attack was directed at the bulker Star Iris, that was headed for Iran according to Kpler.
• Saudi Aramco’s intensions to halt the expansion of its output capacity are being driven by the energy transition according to Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.
• The US DOE is turning away some light crude, such as produced in Texas’s Eagle Ford basin for injection into the strategic petroleum reserves because it doesn’t blend well with the existing denser stocks according to Bloomberg.
• Iraq’s crude oil production stood at 4mbpd in January, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said, in line with the country’s pledged output for 1Q 2024.
• China’s estimated oil demand forecast for 4Q faces downside risk of 0.6mb/d following a surge in EV sales and bearish conversations with local consumers according to Goldman Sachs.
• The crude oil tanker Ligera has received around 1.7mn barrels of Russian crude oil via two STS transfers in the Laconian Gulf in Greece and is mostly likely headed for Venezuela according to TankerTrackers.
• The amount of crude oil held around the world on tankers that have been stationary for at least seven days rose by 419k bbl, or 0.5%, to 84.17m bbl as of 9 February, Vortexa data show.
• European oil refiners are increasing crude oil purchases amid high diesel prices and disruptions to Middle Eastern shipments due to Red Sea tensions, boosting physical crude prices according to trading sources.
• Oil processing rates in Russia’s refineries fell by over 151kb/d to the lowest in four months at 5.26mb/d according to Bloomberg sources.
• The Petronor refiner in Bilboa, Spain is halting a reformer for planned maintenance Monday according to a company statement.
• Diesel crack spreads are slightly weaker but are still holding onto most of the gains seen so far this month due to tighter supplies amid Red Sea diversions and refinery maintenance as well as drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
• Phillips 66 said on Friday there was a fire at its 60,000 bpd Billings Montana refinery.
  • US gasoline crack up 0.7$/bbl at 22.1$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack down -0.7$/bbl at 46.48$/bbl