Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Creeps Down

Crude has edged down marginally after retreating from an intraday high of $79.71/b. Recovering production levels in North Dakota and a bearish outlook for demand are weighted against risks of Middle East conflict and production disruptions in Libya. Brent is up around 0.9% since the start of the week.

• Brent MAR 24 down -0.1% at 79.04$/bbl
• WTI FEB 24 down -0.1% at 74.03$/bbl
• Russian and Chinese ships don’t need to fear attack in the Red Sea, Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi militants. A Spokesperson also said Saudi & UAE Not Targets, but warned of cooperation with the US
• Crude oil and refined product diversions due to Red Sea shipping attacks amount to 28mbbls according to OB.
• The latest Baker Hughes rig count data is due for release at 13:00ET.
• North Dakota’s oil production remains down around 350-400k b/d, according to the pipeline authority.
• The price of UAE’s Murban crude in the spot market dominated by Asia has risen this week according to Bloomberg sources.
• Saudi Arabia is not worried about oil prices as the Kingdom’s oil revenues surpassed 2023 projections, Finance Mohammed Minister Al-Jadaan told Bloomberg TV.
• Macquarie Group expect oil prices to remain rangebound during Q1 2024 unless conflict in the Middle East results in actual supply loss according to Bloomberg.
• Oil prices are likely to move down over the year as the market increasingly looks oversupplied in the face of stuttering demand growth and high U.S. output, Dallas Fed senior business economist Garrett Golding told MNI.
• Another Donald Trump presidency could be bullish for oil if policies were consistent with his previous term according to Sanford C. Bernstein.