Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Tracks Weekly Net Increase

Crude markets are extending earlier gains, nearing the first resistance level and are tracking a week-on-week net increase of around 1% with focus on Middle East tensions and Russia energy infrastructure strikes while watching for any indications of future OPEC+ plans ahead of the JMMC meeting next week. The ICE and NYMEX exchanges are closed for Easter Holiday on Friday.

• Brent JUN 24 up 1% at 86.3$/bbl
• WTI MAY 24 up 1.3% at 82.42$/bbl
• A bull cycle in Brent futures remains in play and the contract is trading closer to its recent highs.
• WTI TECHS: (K4) Bull Phase Remains Intact: RES 1: $86.92 - High Mar 19
• Saudi Aramco may increase the Arab Light official selling price to Asia in May by $0.1/bbl according to the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey of five refiners.
• The US could face an “explosive” hurricane season this year with as many as 25 named storms from June through November compared to a typical year with 14 storms, according to AccuWeather Inc.
• Russia is working with partners after reports that it was struggling with payment issues due to sanctions pressure according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
• Kazakhstan is seeking alternative routes for oil exports to reduce the dependence on the CPC pipeline via Russia, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said, cited by Orda.kz.
• Canadian crude shipments to Los Angeles are rising, highlighting how the new Trans Mountain Pipeline flows may readjust buying patterns.
• The US DOE purchased 2.8mbbl of crude oil for the strategic petroleum reserve, bringing the total amount of oil that the US has purchased for the reserve since last year to 32.3mbbl, it said on Thursday.
• Singapore fuel oil stocks slipped to a two-week low on lower imports according to Enterprise Singapore data Thursday.
• Russia's Kuibyshev refinery, near the city of Samara has halted all production following a Ukrainian drone attack last week according to two Reuters sources.
• Neste plans to start reducing output and shutting units at its 206kbpd Porvoo refinery in Finland gradually from 1 April for a nine-week scheduled maintenance, the firm said.
• Flint Hills extinguished a fire at the 58kbpd FCC at the Corpus Christi West Plant in the evening on 26 March according to a TCEQ filing.
• Gasoline cracks are down today driven by an unexpected build in US gasoline stocks and with implied demand increasing at a slightly slower rate than seen in previous weeks in yesterday's EIA data.
• The updated Insights Global European ARA product inventories will be released today around 15:15GMT.
  • US gasoline crack down 0.2$/bbl at 30.67$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack down 0.2$/bbl at 27.47$/bbl