Oil End of Day Summary: Crude Falls

Crude markets are edging down today as concerns over threats to Red Sea shipping have been superseded by record US oil output and Angola’s announcement it will leave the OPEC group. Falling US rig counts helped to moderate today’s losses in US hours.

• WTI FEB 24 down -0.8% at 73.6$/bbl
• Angola will exit OPEC, stated-owned Jornal de Angola reported, citing Mineral Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo.
• Tankers carrying crude oil and fuel entering the Bab al-Mandab strait fell to around 30 this week, down by over 40% from the daily average seen in the previous three weeks as more shipping companies pause routes in the Red Sea according to Bloomberg ship tracking.
• Chartering costs for Suezmax class vessels, the largest that can pass the Suez Canal, have jumped as more ships opt to sail around Africa.
• US total oil and gas rig counts fell by 3 to 620, according to Baker Hughes Dec. 21. Total US oil rigs fell by 3 on the week to 498.
• The Canada Energy Regulator denied a variance request for the TMX Pipeline expansion project because it did not adequately address concerns about pipeline integrity and environmental protection impacts.
• Oil markets signal $80/bbl Brent in the coming years according to Goldman Sachs Head of Natural Resources Equity Research Neil Mehta in an interview with CNBC earlier this week.
• Nigeria plans to increase Agbami crude exports in February to 101k b/d, the highest level in b/d since April, according to Bloomberg. This is up from 94k b/d in January.
• Heads of Mexico’s Pemex and Venezuela’s PDVSA met to discuss potential collaboration, according to post on X, cited by Reuters.