Oil End of Day Summary: WTI Highest Since Oct

WTI is set for its highest close since late October as escalating Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries spark supply concerns.

• WTI APR 24 up 0.8% at 83.41$/bbl
• The Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion will be complete by end- May, with the first waterborne exports from the expanded system starting a month: Premier of Alberta
• Total imports by China and India of Russia-origin crude have been climbing of late and this has coincided with a plateauing of Russian crude on water, along with a decline in Sokol volumes according to Vortexa.
• India is pulling higher volumes of US crude after tighter sanctions push buyers away from Russian grades – particularly Sokol.
• China’s Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co. has purchased spot crude cargoes in preparation for the start of its new 400kb/d refinery according to Bloomberg sources.
• Unipec, in a rare move, is sending a VLCC loaded with Libyan Bu Attifel crude to Asia, according to traders and shipping data from LSEG and Kpler, while the grade is usually shipped to Europe.
• Angola is planning to export 1.04mbpd of crude oil in May, the lowest level since April 2023, and down from 1.09mbpd planned for April, according to a provisional schedule.
• US oil production will grow to exceed 14m b/d and then plateau, ConocoPhillips CEO said Mach 19, cited by Reuters.
• US crude oil inventories likely fell by 1.2m bbl in the week to March 15, according to a WSJ survey of eight analysts and traders, cited by Dow Jones