Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Falls Despite OPEC Cuts

Crude has fallen late in European trading hours, erasing all earlier gains on the day, amid a lukewarm reaction to news of additional but voluntary OPEC+ cuts. The resumption of loadings from Black Sea Ports, coupled with a stronger US dollar are also adding downward pressure on prices.

• Brent FEB 24 down -2.7% at 80.64$/bbl
• WTI JAN 24 down -2.8% at 75.71$/bbl
• Headlines suggested OPEC+ is planning to cut output by 2mbpd during 1Q24 according to delegates. Delegates suggested OPEC+ cuts will be announced by members individually.
• Saudi Arabia will extend its 1mbpd output cut. Russia will reduce production by 500kbpd. Algeria will cut production by 50kbpd.
• Regarding African quotas for 2024: A draft communique showed that Angola’s OPEC+ quota is set at 1.1mbpd. Angola’s baseline was expected to be adjusted to 1.28mbpd, OPEC said during the June meeting.
• Brazil is said to be joining OPEC+ from January 2024 according to delegates. Later Bloomberg headlines suggested Brazil is only considering the OPEC+ membership invite, citing Brazilian officials.
• Both the CPC terminal and the nearby Novorossiysk facility have now resumed operations Nov. 30, according to Bloomberg.
• Kazakhstan will raise crude oil supplies to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline to 200,000 tons in December, up from 100,000 tons initially planned, traders told Reuters.
• India’s oil imports from Russia rebounded in November due to a number of refineries coming back online and higher domestic fuel consumption.
• China's crude throughput is set to continue the downtrend in December both from state-run and independent refineries due to weak domestic demand and a decline in oil product exports according to S&P Commodity Insights.
• Russia's planned oil loadings from its western ports are set to decline 6% in December from November to 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd), market sources said and Reuters calculations showed.