Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Softer But Remains Above $90/bbl

Crude markets are slightly softer today but still holding onto most of the recent gains after seeing an 8$/bbl rally since late August driven by tighter supplies due to OPEC+ cuts. Optimism that the US Fed has will paused the recent rate hike cycle is adding to the price support while the market also considers China growth amid strong crude imports.

• Brent NOV 23 down -0.3% at 90.39$/bbl
• WTI OCT 23 down -0.5% at 87.04$/bbl
• Four major oil ports in Libya including - Ras Lanuf, Zueitina, Brega and Es Sidra – have been closed since Saturday evening for a period of at least three days because of a hurricane.
• Iraq’s Oil Minister Abdel-Ghani said on Sunday Iraq has not yet reached an agreement with Turkey to resume oil exports from the north.
• OPEC+ output cuts and the Saudi Arabia and Russia cut extensions to year-end suggest a widening oil-market deficit of more than 2mbpd in 2H according to Bloomberg analysis.
• Saudi Aramco will supply full contractual crude volumes to at least four customers in Asia for October.
• Crude managed money net long positions rose to a six month high with WTI positioning the most bullish since June 2022 according to Commitments of Traders data released on Friday. The combined net long positions for Brent and WTI increased by +101k to 452k.
• Crude global floating storage stationary for at least 7-days fell to the lowest since December at 81.02mbbls as of 8 Sep according to Vortexa down 5.8% from the previous week.
• Diesel markets are extending gains with the prompt Gasoil time spread at the highest since March amid tight supply concerns with low global stocks. The Dec23-Dec24 spread has rallied above the high from last week to a new contract high. The front month US diesel cracks spread has recovered much of the decline seen in late August and up from a low of 44.65$/bbl early last week up to 52.8$/bbl. The Sep-Oct refinery maintenance season could limit the ability to build stores ahead of the winter. Russia’s oil refineries scaled back operations in early September for seasonal maintenance with primary crude processing averaging 5.52mbpd on 1-6 Sept and down by 32kbpd from the 1-30 August average according to Bloomberg.
• Gasoil SEP 23 up 1.3% at 1001.25$/mt
• Gasoil SEP 23-OCT 23 up 5$/mt at 27.75$/mt
• Gasoil DEC 23-DEC 24 up 2.25$/mt at 105$/mt
• EU Gasoil-Brent up 1.6$/bbl at 35.15$/bbl
• US ULSD crack up 2.3$/bbl at 53.11$/bbl
• The 140kbpd gasoline-producing FFC-unit at Marathon Petroleum's 593kbpd Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, remained shut following a fire on Thursday and is expected to be shut until late this week, people familiar with plant operations said.