Oil Summary at European Close: Crude Trading Higher

Crude markets are erasing some gains but remain higher on the day after a larger than expected draw in US crude inventories. Middle East tensions are also adding support.

• Brent SEP 24 up 2.5% at 80.59$/bbl
• WTI SEP 24 up 3.1% at 77.04$/bbl
• EIA Weekly US Petroleum Summary - w/w change week ending Jul 26: Crude stocks -3,436 vs Exp -832, Crude production 0, SPR stocks +685, Cushing stocks -1,106
• The crude call-put option spreads have bounced from the bearish levels seen last week
• A Trump presidency could lead to 10% tariffs on virtually all imports into the USA, and as much as 50% from China, impacting commodity flows, Reuters said.
• ARA crude storage rose 1% or 0.5mbbls in the week ended July 26 to 50.1mbbls according to Genscape.
• Saudi Aramco may raise prices for its Arab Light crude sold to Asia in September following the cut in August, according to a Bloomberg survey.
• North Sea Buzzard oil field will begin planned maintenance on Aug. 9 and will be offline for around 8 days, according to Bloomberg citing Cnooc International.
• China’s crude imports are expected to pick up in the second half of 2024, according to Ye Lin at Rystad Energy cited by Bloomberg.
• Russia’s First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said the country is processing 4% more crude oil than a year ago, according to Tass cited by Bloomberg.
• Middle East tensions and attacks by Ukraine on Russian energy facilities continue to keep geopolitical risks relatively high, Bloomberg Intelligence said.
• India’s crude oil production fell 2.6% y/y vs a fall of 1.1% in May, data from the Central Statistics Office showed.
• MNI COMMODITY WEEKLY: Major Global Refining Additions Highlight Ramp-Up Difficulties: https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/files/65534/MNI%20Commodity%20Weekly%20-%20%20Major%20Global%20Refining%20Additions%20Highlight%20Ramp-Up%20Difficulties.pdf