Oil Summary: Crude Extends Gains

Crude extends gains after seeing a 1.7$/bbl decline yesterday driven by economic demand concerns and with a stronger US dollar. The move came despite a record decline in US crude inventories according to the weekly EIA data.

• Brent OCT 23 down -0.2% at 83.02$/bbl
• WTI SEP 23 down -0.2% at 79.32$/bbl
• The US remains confident that the G7 price cap on Russian oil is working to squeeze Russian oil revenues, despite the recent rise in prices for Russian oil, acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury Official Eric Van Nostrand said.
• US crude exports to Asia are estimated to rise to around 2.2mbpd this month, a new record.
• Venezuela crude production rose to 843,700 bpd including condensates and NGLs, up from 806,300 bpd in June.
• China’s oil demand growth is forecast to grow slower in Q4 at 940kbpd, compared with 1.24mbpd in Q3 according to CNPC.
• Russia’s exports of refined oil products climbed to a three-month high of 2.55mbpd on 1-28 July, up by 203kbpd compared to the total of June.
• Extreme heat is cutting European diesel and gasoline demand by as much as one fifth in some countries according to a Rystad Energy.
• European diesel markets could be less tight in the second half of August because of the wave of US ULSD shipments in July according to Sparta Commodities.
• Diesel and gasoline crack spreads softened following EIA US inventory data before diesel regained ground late in the day amid ongoing tight supplies and with US inventories falling further below normal this week.
• US gasoline crack down -1.5$/bbl at 35.55$/bbl
• US ULSD crack down -0.8$/bbl at 46.1$/bbl