- Oil extends losses to trade at a three-week low ahead of Russian oil product ban
- March ’23 WTI lost 39c this morning to trade around $76/Bbl
- Crude fell $2.46 yesterday after EIA reported a 4.1 MMBbl crude build bringing US crude inventories to the highest since June 2021
- Fed Chairman Powell announced a further rate hike of 25 basis points yesterday
- On February 5, an EU ban on Russian refined goods is set to go into effect, potentially tightening the global supply
- Russia’s oil output was steady in January despite the EU ban and G7 price cap (Bloomberg)
- Russian crude production was just 0.08 MMBbl/d lower in January than it was in December, at 10.86 MMBbl/d, according to the Energy Ministry
- Russian Prime Minister Novak said that the country's " oil output and exports are stable" and that all efforts were being made to " find new supply chains, markets, and transportation " for their crude
- Novak's remarks follow the G7 nations' imposition of price caps against the Urals and the current EU embargo on imports of Russian seaborne crude
- EU struggles to agree on a price cap level on Russian oil products (Reuters)
- The EU’s member states hope to reach an agreement on a price cap for Russian oil products on Friday after postponing a vote on the issue on Wednesday due to disputes among the member states
- Poland and the three Baltic states are still pushing for the caps to be set at lower levels to curb Moscow’s revenues, said EU diplomats
- Last week, the European Commission recommended a price cap of $45/Bbl for cheap Russian oil products, such as fuel oil, and a $100/Bbl cap on premium Russian oil products, like diesel
- However, IEA chief Fatih Birol reiterated his support for the price caps on Wednesday, saying he didn't expect the proposal to cause major problems or disruption