Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Stabilizes

Crude is stabilizing after drifting lower earlier in the session as the USD Index has been nearing March highs ahead of the US Fed rate decision tomorrow. The escalation in drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure raised concerns for oil product supplies, adding to strength from geopolitical risks in the Mideast and improved oil demand forecasts.

• Brent MAY 24 down 0.1% at 86.8$/bbl
• WTI APR 24 down 0.1% at 82.67$/bbl
• Total imports by China and India of Russia-origin crude have been climbing of late and this has coincided with a plateauing of Russian crude on water, along with a decline in Sokol volumes according to Vortexa.
• India is pulling higher volumes of US crude after tighter sanctions push buyers away from Russian grades – particularly Sokol.
• China’s Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co. has purchased spot crude cargoes in preparation for the start of its new 400kb/d refinery according to Bloomberg sources.
• Unipec, in a rare move, is sending a VLCC loaded with Libyan Bu Attifel crude to Asia, according to traders and shipping data from LSEG and Kpler, while the grade is usually shipped to Europe.
• Almost 900kbpd of Russian oil refining capacity is likely to be offline for several weeks or months following Ukrainian attacks, JP Morgan said in a note.
• Higher oil product prices in Europe are creating arbitrage opportunities previously limited by the high transport costs due to tanker diversions around Africa, according to Clarksons Securities.
• Diesel and gasoline crack spreads are stable today after posting strong gains over the last week amid support from Russian refinery outages and signs of rising US gasoline demand ahead of the summer driving season.
• TotalEnergies were raising production on its CDU, coker and FCC at its 238,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery on Monday according to Reuters sources.
  • US gasoline crack up 0$/bbl at 32.31$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack up 0$/bbl at 33.73$/bbl