Category: Highlights

WTI crude prices rose slightly today after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an oil inventory build of 1.7 million barrels for the week to December 30. This compared with a modest build of 700,000 barrels for the previous week, which in turn followed a weekly draw of 5.9 million barrels. The EIA said that at 420.6 million barrels, crude oil inventories were still below the seasonal five-year average, by some 4 percent. A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute estimated a crude oil inventory build of close to 3.3 million barrels, citing refinery shutdowns that…

Read More

Last year was a rather surprising one for those used to seeing a short and visible link between oil prices and U.S. oil production. In 2022, this link broke. Despite higher oil prices, U.S. drillers did not go into full growth mode. And they ended the year in much the same way. According to the latest Dallas Fed energy survey, the pace of growth in the U.S. oil and gas industry slowed in the fourth quarter of the year even though many of the biggest challenges the industry had faced…

Read More

Oil prices crashed early on Wednesday, with Brent Crude falling below the $80 a barrel mark again, as concerns about immediate global oil demand intensified with soaring Covid cases in China and slowing economies globally. As of 8:33 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, had plummeted below $75 per barrel and traded down by 2.68% at $74.91. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, dipped below $80 and the front-month contract was down by 2.70% at $79.92. Oil prices continued on Wednesday the Tuesday rout when both benchmarks dipped…

Read More

Saudi Arabia could reduce the official selling price for its flagship Arab Light crude further for Asian buyers, Reuters has reported, citing four analysts it surveyed. The discount will be for Asian purchases. Aramco already cut the price of its Arab Light for Asian buyers to the lowest in 10 months for shipments taking place this month. The price was set at a $3.25 premium to the Dubai/Oman benchmark, a cut by $2.20 per barrel from the prior month’s price. Now, according to the four analysts surveyed by Reuters, Aramco…

Read More

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in February triggered a major market crisis. Oil and gas prices soared to multi-decade highs; coal prices grew by nearly 70%, global wheat prices increased by over 60% while prices of metals exported by Russia, such as nickel, palladium, and aluminum all increased significantly. Meanwhile, the euro fell below parity with the dollar for the first time in over two decades on fears that the war would trigger a global economic crisis. Now, however, there are growing signs that the disruption could be coming to…

Read More