Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Tracks Weekly Loss

Crude markets are edging higher today after falling about $2/bbl late yesterday amid headlines which sparked optimism for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which were later withdrawn. Front month Brent is on track for a weekly net decrease of above 5% from last Friday’s close.

• Brent APR 24 up 0.4% at 79.04$/bbl
• WTI MAR 24 up 0.4% at 74.15$/bbl
• Wires reporting that according to a 'semi-official Iranian news outlet' an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) adviser has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a target south of the Syrian capital Damascus.
• CBS News sources reported the US has a series of strikes planned in the coming days in response to the drone attack on a Jordanian outpost that killed three US service personnel over the weekend.
• Saudi Arabia more than doubled oil exports from its Muajjiz terminal last month from 258kbpd in Dec to 580kbpd in Jan according to Bloomberg.
• Iraq’s crude oil exports stood at 3.338mbpd in January, down from 3.48mbpd in December and the lowest level since June according to data from the Iraqi Oil Ministry.
• OPEC oil production fell by 490kbpd in January to 26.5mbpd, according to a Bloomberg survey but remains above target as the group’s cuts aim to prevent a global surplus and shore up prices.
• The G7 price cap coalition issued an enforcement alert detailing further information on Russian oil price cap breaches, the document showed.
• Western Canadian Select’s discount to WTI widened to $18.60/bbl from $18.10/bbl yesterday following the outage at BP’s Whitening refinery, according to person familiar and General Index prices quoted on Bloomberg.
• Russia is planning to slightly lower diesel exports from three western ports in February amid lower refinery runs, according to Bloomberg.
• Diesel cracks were down on the day in line with the move in crude although recovered late in the day after news of a plant wide power outage at BP’s Whiting refinery causing evacuation of some workers.
• BP is planning to restart units at the 435kbpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery today – the largest US Midwest refinery - after a power outage led the company to shut down operations, the firm said, cited by Argusmedia.
  • US gasoline crack up 0.2$/bbl at 18.37$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack down -0.8$/bbl at 39.58$/bbl