Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Slides

Crude markets have extended their losses during the European afternoon as Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks ease Middle East supply concerns. Adding further downside is a weaker global oil demand outlook ahead of the US Fed meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

• Brent JUN 24 down 1.3% at 88.36$/bbl
• WTI JUN 24 down 1.3% at 82.73$/bbl
• Increased pressure on Israel from the US for a truce in Gaza and hostage deal has seen oil prices fall during the overnight session as the geopolitical risk premium unwinds.
• US secretary of state Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia for Gaza ceasefire talks. The US has said that Israel will delay a Rafah offensive until it has met with Blinken.
• Saudi Aramco may raise the Arab Light OSP to Asia by $0.70-$0.90/bbl in June to a five-month high according to a Reuters survey of seven refining sources.
• Global floating crude oil, stationary for at least 7 days fell to 62.83m bbl as of April 26, down 17% w/w according to Vortexa.
• The North Sea combined BFOET loadings in June are scheduled to fall to the lowest since June 2022 at 537kbpd from 655kbpd in May, according to loading programs compiled by Bloomberg.
• Iraq’s 3.3mn b/d oil export cap "may continue to the end of 2024 to [help] compensate overproduction, or it may change,
• FGE has cut the forecast for crude processing rates in Asia by about 200kb/d in May and June according to a note from April 26.