WTI & Brent print ~$0.20 above settlement.......>

OIL: WTI & Brent print ~$0.20 above settlement levels after recovering from lows

on Thursday, although the ever-developing Coronavirus situation & supply glut

worry continue to provide headwinds for crude.

- A surprise drawdown in weekly DoE headline crude stocks provided the catalyst

for a move away from lows on Thursday (and also differed from the surprise build

registered in the API equivalent). Elsewhere, the DoE inventory data saw a

shallower than exp. build in gasoline stocks & a surprise drawdown in distillate

stocks (both metrics saw larger than exp. builds in this week's API

equivalents). Stocks at Cushing fell, while weekly U.S. crude production was

flat, even as refinery run rates pared back by a larger than exp. degree.

- Continued focus on the resumption of production at the joint Saudi-Kuwaiti

Hafji oilfield also adds to the supply glut narrative.

- Also worth noting that OPEC Sec Gen Barkindo said that is too early to start

discussing OPEC+ production pact extensions (as is the norm), while the Saudi

Energy Minister pointed to the potential for cuts to be deepened, with all

options open to OPEC+, in his words.