- WTI traded slightly higher on Friday morning as traders weighed economic concerns with optimism that the U.S. plans to refill the SPR after June
- Oil has fallen by about 15% over the past four weeks amid uncertainty surrounding oil demand
- Oil market participants have been giving demand concerns more weight than pending supply cuts from OPEC+
- U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday that the Energy Department hopes to start buying oil to refill the SPR after a Congressionally mandated sale ends in June (Bloomberg)
- Oil prices at $70/Bbl in the administration’s buying range
- “It’s at that point where we will flip the switch and hope to be able to purchase,” Granholm said during House testimony
- The EU has put forth a proposal to halt piped Russian oil flows to Germany and Poland (BBG)
- Germany and Poland have reportedly already stopped receiving oil via the Druzba pipeline, even though both nations are allowed to
- The main focal point of the new proposal is to crackdown on the circumvention of restrictions
- AEGIS notes that Russia has claimed to have reduced oil exports by pipe as many headlines continue to highlight robust waterborne exports
- In total, Russia agreed to reduce its production by 500 MBbl/d in coordination with last month’s OPEC+ supply cut