WTI & Brent operate around the middle of........>

OIL: WTI & Brent operate around the middle of their Asia-Pac session ranges,

after a choppy start to regional trading on Thursday, as Coronavirus worry

re-emerged. WTI is +~$0.20, with Brent +~$0.10 at writing.

- Crude ran higher into the U.S. cash equity open on Wednesday, before a bearish

headline crude inventory build in the weekly DoE stock data (the product side

was a little more bullish) pushed the benchmarks back from best levels.

- Wednesday also saw OPEC trim its 2020 global oil demand growth forecast in

light of the recent Coronavirus development.

- We also heard from domestic Russian oil producers, after a meeting with the

Russian Energy Ministry. The group consensus pointed to an extension of the

current OPEC+ production pact through Q2, as opposed to focus on the OPEC+ JTC's

recent recommendation to deepen production cuts.

- Elsewhere, desks have pointed to the continued rally in RBOB prices,

potentially stemming from unplanned refinery outages in the U.S., although, they

noted that production facilities do not appear to be impacted.