WTI & Brent operate ~$0.40 above their..........>

OIL: WTI & Brent operate ~$0.40 above their respective settlement levels, aided

by China's pledge to buy additional U.S. energy products in the coming 2 years,

per the phase 1 Sino-U.S. trade deal, signed Wednesday. That news allowed crude

to unwind some of the losses that came on the back of the latest weekly DoE

inventory report. The report revealed a surprise drawdown in headline crude

stocks (vs. the surprise build seen in the API equivalent on Tuesday), a build

at the Cushing hub & much larger than exp. builds in both distillate & gasoline

stocks. There was also an uptick in production in the latest week, even as

refinery runs dipped. The build in product stocks weighed on crude before the

aforementioned recovery allowed the benchmark crude metrics settle $0.40-.50

lower on the day. Elsewhere, the latest OPEC monthly oil market report saw an

uptick in the group's '20 world oil global demand forecast, and downticks in

estimates for demand for OPEC crude. The group also lifted its exp. for non-OPEC

supply growth in '20.

- Also worth noting that comments from the Russian & UAE Energy Mins pushed back

against the recent speculation that OPEC+ will cancel its March meeting.