Oil Mid-Day Summary: Crude Stable

Crude markets have been stable during European morning traing, with geopolitical risk weighed against demand concerns. The markets await data on Q1 US GDP and the Fed’s preferred inflation measure core PCE prices.

• Brent JUN 24 up 0.1% at 88.11$/bbl
• WTI JUN 24 up 0.1% at 82.88$/bbl
• The geopolitical risk premium as fallen from last week as Middle East tensions have eased but issues remain with Ukraine striking two Russian oil depots in western Russia and Houthis claiming they had targeted shipping off the Yemeni coast yesterday.
• The Biden administration may leverage new Iran sanctions measures included in the recently passed US security package to pressure Chinese buyers to cut Iranian oil purchases, but the measures are unlikely to have a big impact in the near term, Platts said.
• Crude loadings fell from 15.5% last October to 13.9% in March this year, the lowest since at least 2016 according to Vortexa.
• Chinese buyers are receiving slight discounts on Venezuelan barrels now that sanctions have been reimposed.
• After initially planning large crude supply cuts in May, Mexico’s Pemex may have more volumes to supply after two of its refineries were hit by fires Bloomberg sources said.
• UKMTO Receives Report of Incident in Gulf of Aden
• UKMTO has received a report of an incident 15NM southwest of Aden, Yemen.
• Baker Hughes sees a balanced global oil market, although powering up international spheres are offsetting tapering North American activity and decreasing natural gas basins, Platts said citing the company’s top executives.
• Tengizchevroil has started operations at its Wellhead Pressure Management Project (WPMP) at the Tengiz oil field.