Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Edges Down

Crude prices are edging lower with a slight recovery in the US Dollar. Crude rallied yesterday driven by the chance that the US will reinstate sanctions on Venezuela, limited short term hope for a ceasefire in Israel, tighter supplies from OPEC+ output cuts in Q2 and a weaker US dollar.

• Brent MAY 24 down 0.2% at 86.59$/bbl
• WTI MAY 24 up 0.1% at 82.03$/bbl
• OPEC+ is unlikely to make any output policy changes until the next full OPEC+ ministerial meeting in June, three OPEC sources told Reuters.
• India has stopped buying Venezuelan oil because of the possibility that the US waiver of sanctions on Venezuela won’t be renewed according to Bloomberg.
• Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will consider Venezuelan oil purchase if the US continues to relax sanctions according to the company’s chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya.
• Russian crude exports picked up again in the latest weeks data according to Bloomberg vessel tracking.
• Russian crude oil volumes in floating storage have been rising, Oil Brokerage said in a note, cited by Bloomberg.
• The Suezmax New Discovery has been discharging its Urals crude cargo onto another Suezmax, Caroline Bezengi, via ship-to-ship transfer at Sohar, Oman, marking the fourth Urals STS at Sohar, Bloomberg ship tracking showed.
• Kazakhstan’s Tegiz oil and gas field expansion is planned to be implemented at the end of 2024 according to the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almassadam Satkaliyev.