- WTI touched $55/Bbl in overnight trading for the first time in over a year
- OPEC Joint Technical Committee paints bullish outlook in yesterday's meeting
- January OPEC production comes in below estimates as turmoil in OPEC nations disrupts output
- China demand growth is poised for a slowdown (Platts)
- OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee estimates global stockpiles will go below the five-year average in 2Q2021
- The committee estimate that global oil stockpiles will diminish at an average rate of 1.1 MMBbl/d in 2021
- The JTC estimates assume that OPEC+ production will rise by 0.5 MMBbl/d each month from April to June
- OPEC's output increase was smaller than expected in January, with Bloomberg reporting that output only increased by 190 MBbl/d, in contrast with the planned hike of 250 MBbl/d
- Disruptions in Nigeria and Libya were primarily responsible for the lag
- OPEC output from OPEC 13's members averaged 25.6 MMBbl/d in January, according to Bloomberg
- China's crude demand growth to slow in 2021
- After importing 10.86mmbbl/d of crude, a growth of 707mbbl/d in 2020 and a 7 percent y-o-y growth rate, analysts do not expect this growth to continue with prices rebounding and few plans for capacity growth (Platts)
- China's crude storage hit record highs in 2020, touching over 940mmbbl