US Daily Oil Summary: Refiners Boosting Distillate Production

US oil refineries are boosting production of middle distillates such as diesel and jet fuel ahead of the winter amid rising demand and tight supply, although poor gasoline margins are hampering profits, according to Reuters.

• Maintenance works to units at the 291kb/d Marathon Catlettsburg refinery in northeastern Kentucky processing both sweet and sour crude will extend into late November according to Bloomberg sources.
• Pemex intends to restart the CDU that shut Monday at its 312,500 bpd Deer Park refinery Texas by early next week according to Reuters sources.
• The sanctions easing by the Biden Administration towards Maduro's regime will take near immediate effect and last for 6-months at present.
• USD: Despite some volatile two-way flow following remarks from the Fed Chair, the USD index has consolidated losses on the day, declining 0.35% as we approach the APAC crossover. The downward bias is underpinned by Powell’s remarks on the progress of inflation.
• The Federal Reserve will "carefully" consider whether to raise interest rates further and how long to keep them high, given "very favorable" decline in inflation over the summer, indications that the labor market is cooling and the likelihood of more "meaningful tightening" still filtering through from past increases, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday.
• Initial reaction is that Chair Powell's prepared text leans dovish vs expectations, leading to the market to think that there is little urgency to hike rates.
• Initial jobless claims were lower than expected at a seasonally adjusted 198k (cons 2100) in the week to Oct 14, covering a payrolls reference week, after a marginally upward revised 211k initial 208k.