Brent crude futures fell 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $50.65 a barrel at 0421 GMT before softening further to $50.48 at 0730GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $47.53 a barrel.
Crude inventories swelled by 2 million barrels in the week to Dec. 11 to about 495 million barrels, according to industry group API, as the figures were released last night at 2130GMT. Analysts has expected a draw of 1.9 million barrels which could explain why crude prices softened from the day before. The news of a crude build dampened the progress made in the US stimulus package talks. US crude imports fell by 68,000 barrels per day.
Distillates such as diesel and heating oil inventories rose by 4.8 million barrel, again after an expected build of only 886k barrels.
We await the figures from the EIA today at 1530GMT after last week’s figures noted a 15 million barrel build in crude.
INDEX: (MTD Estimates)
* Sing 380: 291.21
* Rott 3.5%: 270.23
* Sing 0.5%: 370.77
* Rott 0.5%: 354.30
MARKETS NEWS:
* OPEC’s President Says Oil Cartel Cannot Rush Output Increases
* Saudis, OPEC+ Working for Oil Market Stability: Crown Prince
* OPEC+ Treads a Narrow Path as Demand Outlook Weakens Again
* Iran Sends Ship to Load Venezuela Oil Amid Sanctions
* Russia Cuts January Oil-Duty by 7.9% M/m to $38.7 a Ton
* Diesel Rebound Boosts Refining Margins for Light U.S. Crudes
* API Reports U.S. Crude Stockpiles Rose 1.97M Bbl Last Week
OTHER NEWS:
* Biden Picks Former Michigan Governor Granholm for Energy Job
* Singapore Joins Saudi Arabia in Probing Jeddah Port Explosion
* Environmentalists Ask Court to Block Arctic Oil Auctio
* Saudis Shield Aramco’s Oil Revenue Forecasts After Going Public
* Florida SBA Backs Nordic American Tankers on 1 of 6 Proposals
* Green Plains to Sell Texas Ethanol Plant as Part of Overhaul
OIL PRODUCT NEWS:
* U.S.: Holiday Season to Extend Slump for Gasoline
* EUROPE: Fuel Flows to U.S. to Dip; Repsol Shuts CDU
* ASIA: China’s Refining Record; Universal Terminal
ECONOMIC DATA: (Times are London.)
* OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meets online
* Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman may hold press conference
* Genscape weekly ARA crude inventory report
* 3:30pm: EIA weekly U.S. oil inventory report; TOPLive blog coverage begins 3:20pm
* Mid-month Bloomberg tanker trackers for oil exports from countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya
ANALYST VIEWS/COLUMNS:
* RBC Raises Brent, WTI Crude Oil Price Forecasts for 2021
* Gasoline, Diesel Demand to Return to Normality; Jet to Lag: IEA
Rotterdam 3.5% INDIC
Jan21 279.25 / 281.25
Feb21 279.00 / 281.00
Mar21 278.00 / 280.00
Apr21 276.00 / 278.00
May21 273.75 / 275.75
Jun21 271.00 / 273.00
Q1-21 278.75 / 280.75
Q2-21 273.75 / 275.75
Q3-21 265.25 / 267.25
Q4-21 256.75 / 259.75
CAL21 270.75 / 273.75
Singapore 380 INDIC
Jan21 298.00 / 300.00
Feb21 296.75 / 298.75
Mar21 295.75 / 297.75
Apr21 293.75 / 295.75
May21 291.75 / 293.75
Jun21 289.50 / 291.50
Q1-21 296.75 / 298.75
Q2-21 291.50 / 293.50
Q3-21 284.75 / 286.75
Q4-21 277.50 / 280.50
CAL21 289.25 / 292.25
Rott VLSFO 0.5% INDIC
Jan21 359.25 / 364.25
Feb21 359.75 / 364.75
Mar21 360.25 / 365.25
Apr21 360.75 / 365.75
May21 361.00 / 366.00
Jun21 361.25 / 366.25
Q1-21 359.75 / 364.75
Q2-21 361.00 / 366.00
Q3-21 360.75 / 366.75
Q4-21 360.50 / 366.50
CAL21 360.25 / 366.25
Singapore VLSFO 0.5% INDIC
Jan21 378.25 / 383.25
Feb21 379.00 / 384.00
Mar21 379.50 / 384.50
Apr21 379.75 / 384.75
May21 380.00 / 385.00
Jun21 380.25 / 385.25
Q1-21 379.00 / 384.00
Q2-21 380.00 / 385.00
Q3-21 380.25 / 386.25
Q4-21 380.25 / 386.25
CAL21 379.50 / 385.50
Sing 10ppm GO INDIC
Jan21 56.07 / 56.21
Feb21 56.15 / 56.35
Mar21 56.25 / 56.45
Apr21 56.39 / 56.59
May21 56.53 / 56.73
Jun21 56.64 / 56.84
Q1-21 56.15 / 56.35
Q2-21 56.52 / 56.72
Q3-21 56.88 / 57.08
Q4-21 57.05 / 57.25
CAL21 56.55 / 56.95
ICE Gasoil 10ppm INDIC
Jan21 418.23 / 420.23
Feb21 421.01 / 423.01
Mar21 422.84 / 424.84
Apr21 423.85 / 425.85
May21 424.74 / 426.74
Jun21 426.07 / 428.07
Q1-21 420.70 / 422.70
Q2-21 424.89 / 426.89
Q3-21 428.70 / 430.70
Q4-21 431.54 / 433.54
CAL21 426.45 / 428.45
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