Oil End of Day Summary: Crude Regains Lost Ground

WTI has hit new intraday highs in US hours, erasing losses earlier this week. Tension in the Middle East, a weaker USD, and a larger-than-expected draw in US crude stocks have been supportive.

• WTI SEP 24 up 4.3% at 77.94$/bbl
• EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Jul 26: Crude stocks -3,436 vs Exp -832, Crude production 0, SPR stocks +685, Cushing stocks -1,106.
• The Fed held rates steady, but signalled a first cut is nearer.
• A Trump presidency could lead to tariffs on US imports, impacting commodity flows, Reuters said.
• Out-of-control wildfires are threatening 129k b/d of Canadian oil production, Bloomberg said.
• Oil exports from Western Canada have risen to an average of 347k b/d in July, Bloomberg said.
• Mexico’s exports of crude oil rose in July by 3.4% to 871k b/d in July, Bloomberg said.
• ARA crude storage rose 1% or 0.5mbbls in the week ended July 26 to 50.1mbbls according to Genscape.
• Saudi Aramco may raise prices for its Arab Light crude sold to Asia in September following the cut in August, according to a Bloomberg survey.
• North Sea Buzzard oil field will begin planned maintenance on Aug. 9 and will be offline for around 8 days.
• China’s crude imports are expected to pick up in the second half of 2024, according to Ye Lin at Rystad Energy cited by Bloomberg.
• Russia’s First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said crude processing is up 4% on the year.
• Middle East tensions and attacks by Ukraine on Russian energy facilities continue to keep geopolitical risks relatively high, Bloomberg Intelligence said.
• India’s crude oil production fell 2.6% y/y vs a fall of 1.1% in May, data from the Central Statistics Office showed.
• MNI COMMODITY WEEKLY: Major Global Refining Additions Highlight Ramp-Up Difficulties: https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/files/65534/MNI%20Commodity%20Weekly%20-%20%20Major%20Global%20Refining%20Additions%20Highlight%20Ramp-Up%20Difficulties.pdf