Oil End of Day Summary: WTI Heads for Losses

Crude futures have fallen back today, with WTI headed for losses of around 2.7% on the week. Bearish sentiment around demand outlooks from the US and China continue to provide downside. This is despite the extension to OPEC+’s voluntary supply cuts.

• WTI APR 24 down -1.4% at 77.8$/bbl
• The recent incident reported to the UKMTO 50nm southeast of Aden involved the bulk carrier Propel Fortune, according to Bloomberg.
• US oil and gas rigs fell by seven on the week to 622, according to Baker Hughes March 8. Oil rigs were down 2 to 504.
• The OPEC+ alliance pumped 41.21mbpd of oil in February, unchanged in the month. Several members such as Iraq and Kazakhstan continued exceeding their quotas: Platts.
• Russia’s compliance with its pledged OPEC+ output cut worsened in Feb: Bloomberg.
• The IEA is expected to confirm in the next report that the oil market is not oversupplied in the Q2, after the extension of the OPEC+ cuts, Commerzbank said.
• China has entered a period of lower demand growth for oil, especially gasoline, said Lu Ruquan, president of CNPC’s Economics & Technology Research Institute.
• Chinese seaborne crude imports stayed below the 10mbpd for the fourth consecutive month in February, suggesting Chinese crude demand is expected to remain with the seasonal average according to Vortexa.
• Brent is on a path to rise to $90/bbl in Q3 with six months of tightening from March to August: FGE.
• Adnoc has raised the OSP for Murban crude for April delivery to $80.99/bbl.
• The excess of supertankers in the Middle East compared with crude cargoes in the next 30 days has widened to 27%, according to Bloomberg.