Oil End of Day Summary: Crude Eases from Mid-Week Highs

Crude is trading higher but has relinquished some of the gains seen earlier in the day. Baker Hughes’ rig count data showing rig numbers fall for the first time in three weeks will provide some upside. Despite a mid-week spike, crude is now down compared to last Friday, with WTI falling by around 80 cents/bbl.

• WTI NOV 23 up 0.4% at 89.95$/bbl
• WTI-Brent up 0.21$/bbl at -3.41$/bbl
• Baker Hughes Reported that US rig count fell by 11 on the week to 630 rigs, the first fall in three weeks. The US oil rig count fell by 8 to 507 rigs, while the gas rig count was down 3 to 118 rigs. The U.S. Offshore Rig Count was unchanged from Last Week at 19.
• The US Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investment Amos Hochstein emphasized the urgency of reopening the Iraq-Turkey pipeline as soon as possible, according to a White House e-mailed statement.
• Onshore crude inventories in China had been drawn down over the past three weeks to the lowest since mid-June according to data tracked by satellite firm Ursa Space Systems.
• Russian crude exports from three western ports will rise to 8.92m tons, or 2.18mbpd, in September, according to loading programs, the highest level since June.
• Russia’s government expects the average price of its crude grades to average $71.30/bbl in 2024, up from an average of $63.40/bbl so far in 2023.
• Oil production in Russia in 2023 may fall 1.3 % to compared to the 2022 levels to 527m mt, according to the Economic Development Ministry.
• Oil and gas exploration will never return to the heady heights of the 2006-2014 boom but spend is recovering and will remain healthy over the next few years according to Wood Mackenzie.
• Iranian crude and fuel oil imports reached 1.2mbd in 1H September, just shy of August’s record according to Vortexa, while the flows into Shandong province surged to year-to-date highs.
• Russia’s Gazprom Neft commenced operations of a primary crude processing complex at its Omsk refinery according to an official statement.
• “The reason we are here today is definitely driven by demand and of course OPEC policy. I would say definitely that OPEC+ is firmly in control of the market. It’s managed to draw down inventories, pretty much everything we’ve built over the last year.” Energy Aspects founder and director of research Amrita Sen said in her latest interview on CNBC