Oil Retreats from Wednesday's Ground Invasion Headlines

Oil prices have pulled back from a jump higher Wednesday driven by headlines around Israel’s ground invasion plans formalising. Thursday sees some of that premium selling off and comes after a small rise in US crude stockpiles, a climb in the dollar index and general signs of global demand weakness.

• Brent DEC 23 down -0.7% at 89.47$/bbl
• WTI DEC 23 down -0.8% at 84.72$/bbl
• Gasoil NOV 23 up 0.3% at 882.5$/mt
• WTI-Brent unchanged at -4.75$/bbl
• US crude inventories rose by 1.4 mn bbls in the latest week to 421.1 million barrels, according to the EIA.
• Reuters carried comments yesterday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating, "we are preparing for a ground invasion [of Gaza]." Oil has been selling off on any news of a delayed ground invasion over fears it spills over into other Middle East nations or causes further involvement of Iranian backed groups sparking retaliation or sanctions.
• Brent DEC 23-JAN 24 up 0.08$/bbl at 1.09$/bbl
• Brent DEC 23-DEC 24 up 0.01$/bbl at 7.23$/bbl
• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation was in a battle for its very existence, and that an invasion was being prepared.
• Venezuela’s primary opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has claimed victory this week, she remains banned to run by Maduro’s government – something which risks the recent US oil sanctions relief.
• West Africa's two biggest crude exporters - Nigeria and Angola - have sizable overhangs for loadings scheduled for November. Crude premiums to benchmark prices have come down by $1 to $2 a barrel depending on the grade, according to Reuters sources.
• Refinery crude runs in the US fell by 207,000 bpd, while refinery utilisation rates also edged lower by 0.5 percentage point to 85.6% of total capacity, EIA data showed highlighting a backdrop of weak product demand, especially for gasoline.
• Refiners have ramped up output to meet rising demand for diesel-like fuels, which had a side effect of boosting gasoline supplies and pushing down their price.
• Overproduction of US gasoline likely to be a problem into 2024. Domestic distillate demand plus exports suggests minimal inventory accumulation when refiners return from turnarounds next month.
• US gasoline crack up 0.1$/bbl at 9.88$/bbl
• US ULSD crack up 0.2$/bbl at 38.9$/bbl