Oil End of Day Summary: Crude Edges Down

Crude has reversed earlier gains to be trading lower amid strong gains in the USD and wider economic concerns. The fall is despite falling output from US shale production and Middle East risks to supplies.

• WTI FEB 24 down -0.7% at 72.18$/bbl
• North Dakota oil output has further declined by 600-650kbpd due to the ongoing cold spell, Justin Kringstad, director of state’s pipeline authority, said, cited by Bloomberg.
• Crude output from US shale production is forecast to fall by 2k b/d to 9.68m b/d in February, according to the EIA’s monthly Drilling Productivity Report.
• Wires carrying comments from Reuters reporting that according to unnamed US officials, the US military has on Tuesday carried out a new strike on Houthi anti-ship missiles in Yemen.
• Large numbers of merchant ships continue to transit the Bab el-Mandeb strait despite the potential threat of Houthi attacks and warnings to avoid the area.
• Shell suspended all shipments via the Red Sea route indefinitely, following Houthi rebel attacks on US and UK-owned vessels.
• Chevron has not made “fundamental changes” to the way it moves vessels over the last few weeks regarding the Red Sea security issue according to its CEO Mike Wirth.
• Angola plans to export 1.05m b/d of crude in March.
• Libya plans to export at least 896k b/d of crude in January.
• Russia’s seaborne crude shipments have risen on the week, despite disruption with shipping in the Red Sea, according to Bloomberg.