| At 10:03 am Singapore time (0203 GMT), the ICE March Brent futures contract was down 4 cents/b (0.05%) from the previous close at $84.63/b, while the NYMEX February light sweet crude contract was 5 cents/b (0.06%) lower at $82.59/b.
US DoE Crude Oil Inventories: – (W/W) 07-Jan: -4553K (est -1850K; prev -2144K) – Distillate: +2537K (est +1700K; prev +4418K) – Cushing: -2468K (prev +2577K) – Gasoline: +7961K (est +2750K; prev +10128K) – Refinery Utilization: -1.40% (est -0.10%; prev 0.10%)
Oil prices have continued to push higher overnight as investors remained bullish on the outlook for oil, with global demand still on track for a firm recovery and stocks remaining tight. US commercial crude oil stocks fell 4.55 million barrels to 413.3 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 7, the US Energy Information Administration reported Jan. 12, the lowest level recorded since October 2018. Lower production, offset by weakened refinery appetite and sliding exports, had led stocks lower. However, US gasoline stocks rose by 7.96 million barrels to 240.75 million barrels over the same period, the highest since June, while distillate stocks climbed 2.54 million barrels to 129.38 million barrels. (S&P Global Platts)
Analysts said the near-term direction for oil prices remained very much skewed to the upside despite rising COVID-19 cases worldwide and continuously rising US refined product stocks. Lagging production growth from OPEC producers and supply disruptions in Africa meant that prices will likely withstand any further shocks, barring the emergence of new strains of the coronavirus. Inflation readings from the US released Jan. 12 meanwhile came in within expectations, lessening the case for an aggressive shift in monetary policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve. Some market watchers nonetheless said inflation remains at significantly high levels. (S&P Global Platts)
US oil production is on course to break pre-pandemic records next year, a government agency has forecast, complicating the Biden administration’s ambitions to shift the country away from fossil fuels. Output is likely to rise to a fresh annual high of 12.4m barrels a day in 2023, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday, eclipsing the previous record volume of 12.3m b/d set in 2019. US natural gas production will also set new records over the next two years, the independent statistics agency said. It marks a stark reversal for an oil and gas industry that was sent into freefall by the pandemic-driven economic downturn, and defies widespread predictions that the country’s oil industry would not recapture peak production levels. (FT)
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