WTI and Brent sit $0.20 & $0.30 above their.....>

OIL: WTI and Brent sit $0.20 & $0.30 above their respective settlement levels at

typing, after holding tight ranges in Asia-Pac trade.

- A reminder that Wednesday saw both metrics settle over $1.00 higher on the

day, although Sino-U.S. tensions have proven to be the limiting factor in the

time since settlement.

- Wednesday's weekly DoE inventory data saw the headline crude and Cushing

metrics confirm what we saw in the API estimates i.e. a surprise drawdown for

the former and chunky drawdown for the latter (which is particularly supportive

for WTI bulls), although gasoline inventories saw a surprise build, while

distillate stocks saw a larger than exp. build.

- We also heard from OPEC Secretary General Barkindo on Wednesday, who noted

that supply and demand fundamentals are slowly converging, while hailing an

agreement between OPEC & China re: stabilising the oil markets.