*US Demand Rebounds
The EIA reported yesterday that US crude, gasoline and distillate stock levels all dropped last week even with an increase in refinery production. This shows us that American demand for crude and oil products is finally looking like it is bouncing back. Refinery utilisation was up 1.4% to 81% of total capacity, and on the east coast this level was 71.8%, the highest since Aug 2019 according to Reuters. US fuel demand was up to 19.37 million bpd, draining gasoline stocks by 722,000 bbls and distillates by 2.3 million bbls.
*Asian Distillate and Gasoil Under Pressure
Prompt month spreads remained in a contango structure as the well supplied market struggled to rid itself of stocks, harming cash differentials which slipped to more than two-month lows. Diesel consumption, which accounts for about two-fifths of India’s overall fuel usage, fell to 5.52 million tonnes last month from 6.31 million tonnes in June, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas showed.
*Saudi Aramco Plans Spending Cuts
The oil giant is planning to cut expenditure by $25 billion next year. This is about half the amount they had originally planned. The company is trying to keep to its promise to shareholders of a $75 billion dividend this year, despite all the coronavirus disruption.
*UAE Stocks Drop
Middle-distillate inventories in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone dipped 0.8% to 3.5 million
barrels in the week ended Aug. 10, data via S&P Global Platts showed. The weekly stocks in Fujairah have averaged 3.9 million barrels so far in 2020, compared with a weekly average of 2.4 million barrels in 2019, Reuters calculations showed.