Off Lows In Asia; EU Sanctions On Russia See Little Progress

WTI is ~+$1.60 and Brent is ~+$1.70 at typing, rising above their respective two-week lows made earlier in the session. Both benchmarks nonetheless sit ~$8 lower for the week so far, with concern re: reduced Chinese energy demand and global stagflation worry remaining front and centre.

• Doubt re: the imminence of EU sanctions of Russian oil continues to do the rounds, with Hungarian officials continuing to indicate that little progress has been made in discussions with the EU.
• Looking to China,sharp inter-day declines in fresh daily case counts were observed in Shanghai and Beijing, with Shanghai officials declaring that half of the city’s districts have reached “basically no community spread”. Worry re: reduced industrial activity remains elevated however, with automakers Toyota and Tesla recently flagging supply chain disruptions due to ongoing pandemic control measures nationwide, with participants continuing to watch for the effectiveness of ongoing “closed loop” measures in Chinese factories for now.
• Turning to the Middle East, Libyan Parliament-elect PM Bashagha tweeted on Wednesday that government efforts to lift a protestor-led blockade on Libyan oil fields has been successful, noting that Libya had previously reported a half-million bpd decline in production over the issue.
• Elsewhere, the latest round of U.S. API inventory estimates crossed late on Tuesday, with reports pointing to a build in Cushing, crude, gasoline, and distillate stocks, coming as WSJ median estimates for EIA inventory figures later on Wednesday (1530 BST) have called for declines in the latter three stockpiles.