Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Ticks Down

Front month crude futures are trading lower but have regained some ground in the afternoon. Initial downside came from comments that Saudi Aramco is not necessarily abandoning capacity expansion plans according to Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

• Brent APR 24 down -0.3% at 81.93$/bbl
• WTI MAR 24 down 0% at 76.83$/bbl
• The United Kingdom Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency reported an incident 40 nm south of Yemen’s Al Mukha early on Monday. The attack was directed at the bulker Star Iris, that was headed for Iran according to Kpler.
• Saudi Aramco’s intensions to halt the expansion of its output capacity are being driven by the energy transition according to Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.
• Iraq’s crude oil production stood at 4mbpd in January, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said, in line with the country’s pledged output for 1Q 2024.
• China’s estimated oil demand forecast for 4Q faces downside risk of 0.6mb/d following a surge in EV sales and bearish conversations with local consumers according to Goldman Sachs.
• The crude oil tanker Ligera has received around 1.7mn barrels of Russian crude oil via two STS transfers in the Laconian Gulf in Greece and is mostly likely headed for Venezuela according to TankerTrackers.
• TotalEnergies view the Red Sea situation as limited on the energy markets at present but that it is still adding upward price momentum according to its CEO Patrick Pouyanne in an interview with CNBC.