WTI & Brent have stuck to tight ranges during...>

OIL: WTI & Brent have stuck to tight ranges during Asia hours, and both sit

around $0.15 below settlement levels. This comes after WTI shed ~$0.65 on

Thursday, while Brent lost ~$0.40. The latest IEA monthly report added some

pressure to crude on Thursday, even as demand growth exp. were left unch.,

unlike the recent EIA & OPEC reports, with both of those bodies trimming their

respective '19 demand exp. The IEA noted that "while the relentless stock builds

we have seen since early '18 have halted, this is temporary. Soon, the OPEC+

producers will once again see surging non-OPEC oil production with the implied

mkt balance returning to a sig surplus & placing pressure on prices. The

challenge of market management remains a daunting one well into '20."

- Elsewhere, the OPEC+ JMMC meeting was a bit of a damp squib. The Omani Oil Min

noted that the '20 outlook is not very good, while we learnt that Iraqi &

Nigerian non-compliance to production cuts was a major point of discussion &

perhaps a hindrance to deeper cuts. The Iraqi Oil Min tried to provide some

reassurance that his country will provide deeper production cuts in Oct, while

Saudi committed to sub-10mn bpd production through year-end.