Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Ticks Up

Crude futures have ticked up on the day. Front month has returned to levels seen mid-morning following a dip after the US CPI data release and OPEC’s monthly oil market report.

• Brent MAY 24 up 0.3% at 82.48$/bbl
• WTI APR 24 up 0.4% at 78.27$/bbl
• Firmer than expected CPI initially unwinds some of the Fed rate cut premium, before a look at unrounded numbers and slower supercore M/M inflation tempers/reverses the move.
• OPEC raised oil output 200,000 BPD to 26.6 mln bpd in February, OPEC+ overshot production target by 200,000 BPD
• Lukoil’s 340kbpd Norsi refinery shut the main CDU (AVT-6) following several Ukrainian drone and missile attacks overnight, meaning at least half of the refinery’s production is halted, sources told Reuters.
• Russia’s seaborne crude exports surged by 590kb/d to 3.7mb/d and the highest level for the year so far in the week to March 10 according to Bloomberg ship tracking.
• A fire at a Russian oil depot in Oryol has been extinguished following an attack by Ukrainian drones last night.
• Azerbaijan’s crude and condensate production stood at 4.8mn tons in January and February, down from 5.1mn tons in 2023, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said via X.
• The backlog of cargoes of Russian Sokol crude off Singapore and South Korea is starting to clear amid Chinese buying according to Bloomberg.
• Venezuelan crude oil exports rose by 125kbpd on the month to 660kbpd in February, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase, Kpler data showed.