Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Climbing

Crude markets have extended the earlier gains towards the highs of last week amid a fall in the strength of the greenback and a build in US crude stocks in-line with expectations.

• Brent MAY 24 up 2.3% at 83.95$/bbl
• WTI APR 24 up 3.1% at 80.58$/bbl
• Crude inventories in the ARA region rose by 1.947mbbl to 51.44mbbl in the week to March 1 according to the latest Genscape data.
• A US defence official said smoke has been seen from Barbados-flagged bulk carrier, True Confidence, near the coast of Yemen after an attack by the Houthis.
• EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Mar 01: Crude stocks +1,367 vs Exp +1,720, Crude production -100, SPR stocks +706, Cushing stocks +701
• Saudi Arabia raised the official selling price for Arab Light crude for Asia in April to $1.70/bbl above the Oman/Dubai average.
• Russia’s seaborne crude exports fell to the lowest in over a month.
• Several oil tankers used by Russia have stopped sailing under the Liberian and Marshall Islands flags in recent weeks after, the US ramped up sanctions enforcement.
• North Sea Johan Sverdrup prices are softening due to record April loadings and weak European refinery demand according to Bloomberg sources.
• Libya plans to export 30.93m bbl, or 998k b/d, of crude exports in March.
• Nigerian crude oil loadings are set to fall to 1.23mbpd in April – based on schedules for 13 oil grades - down from 1.27mbpd in March.
• Kazakhstan plans to increase volumes of exported oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to 1.5m mt in 2024.
• Sanctions Crack Down Could Upend Established Russian Flows: Full piece here: https://enews.marketnews.com/ct/x/pjJscQeAlewI6a9vKxAjEg~k1zZ8KXr-kA8x6nAUpSkptIPjL4SdA