Oil End of Day Summary: Crude Softens

WTI front month is headed for US close trading lower, although it has recouped most of the earlier losses. Initial downside came from comments that Saudi Aramco is not abandoning capacity expansion plans.

• WTI MAR 24 down -0.2% at 76.71$/bbl
• UKMTO reported an incident 40 nm south of Yemen’s Al Mukha Feb. 12, directed at the bulker Star Iris headed for Iran according to Kpler.
• Saudi Aramco’s intensions to halt the expansion of its output capacity are being driven by the energy transition according to Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.
• Iraq’s crude oil production stood at 4mbpd in January, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said, in line with the country’s pledged output for 1Q 2024.
• US oil production is set to rise in March to 9.716m b/d across the major shale plays, according to the EIA Drilling Productivity Report.
• Observed crude oil shipments from the US Gulf to Europe are on track to reach 2.2mbpd in February, the highest level since 2016: Bloomberg.
• China’s estimated oil demand forecast for 4Q faces downside risk of 0.6mb/d following a surge in EV sales and bearish conversations with local consumers according to Goldman Sachs.
• The crude oil tanker Ligera has received around 1.7mn barrels of Russian crude oil via two STS transfers in Greece and is mostly likely headed for Venezuela.
• The Iranian government is looking at downstream partnerships to secure demand for its crude, according to Argus.
• TotalEnergies’ view the Red Sea situation as limited on the energy markets at present but that it is still adding upward price momentum according to its CEO Patrick Pouyanne.