Oil prices are hovering in the green after a roller-coaster overnight as Saudi Arabia slashed its crude prices, signaling tepid demand, and risk-off sentiment clipped broader markets.

Dollar strength this morning after solid labor market data is also not helping crude.

Crude inventory figures later Thursday will give a first insight into the impact of pre-Christmas cold weather on US stockpiles, after the American Petroleum Institute reported a build on Wednesday.

API

• Crude +3.30mm
• Cushing +700k
• Gasoline +1.20mm
• Distillates -2.40mm

DOE

• Crude +1.69mm (+1.1mm exp)
• Cushing +244k
• Gasoline -346k
• Distillates -1.427mm

US crude stockpiles rose for a second straight week (though built less than API reported) while gasoline inventories drew down for a second week...

Source: Bloomberg

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve saw yet another drain last week (-2.748mm), dragging it to its lowest level since Nov 1983...

Source: Bloomberg

US Crude production inched higher last week but remains around the same as it has for six months...

Source: Bloomberg

Refinery Utilization plunged last week as the nationwide winter storm shut down ops...

Source: Bloomberg

US weekly gasoline product supplied, a proxy for demand, fell by the most since March, 2020. Distillates demand also fell to the lowest level since May 2020.

Source: Bloomberg

WTI was trading around $73.50 ahead of the official data and rallied after...

However, a deepening contango in front-month oil spreads reflects the dour near-term view...

Finally, we note that Saudi Arabia kept oil exports steady last month as it continued to implement an OPEC+ agreement aimed at stabilizing world crude markets, according to an official from the kingdom. 

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