Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Trades Higher

Crude futures are trading higher on the day amid potential supply disruptions from further drone attacks on Russian refineries and an unexpected draw in US crude stocks.

• Brent MAY 24 up 2.1% at 83.66$/bbl
• WTI APR 24 up 2.3% at 79.34$/bbl
• EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Mar 08: Crude stocks -1,536 vs Exp +307, Crude production -100, SPR stocks +596, Cushing stocks -220
• ARA crude inventories rose 341k bbl, or 0.7% in the week ended March 8 to 51.8mn bbls according to Genscape.
• The Russian tanker Krymsk, impacted by recent US sanctions on Sovcomflot, docked on Wednesday at the Chinese port of Dongying in eastern Shandong province according to LSEG.
• The highest Johan Sverdrup crude volumes since February 2022 is heading to China after Unipec bought 8m barrels of the North Sea grade to be delivered in May amid weak demand in Europe, according to Reuters sources.
• Senior officials from Iraq and Turkey are set to talk on Thursday with energy co-operation part of the agenda according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
• Crude oil shipments into Europe from the US Gulf are on track to hit a new record of around 2.23mbpd in March, up from 1.96mbpd in February, Bloomberg ship tracking data and fixture reports showed.
• MNI COMMODITY WEEKLY: Renewed Interest in Drone Strikes on Russian Energy Infrastructure – Full piece here: https://enews.marketnews.com/ct/x/pjJscQfan-QI6a9uIhp0TA~k1zZ8KXr-kA8x6nACJ6sptIPjO1OcQ