- Oil holds steady above $80/Bbl amid lingering demand concerns
- May ’23 WTI lost 22c this morning to trade around $80.49/Bbl
- Crude gained nearly $5, or 6.5%, this week after OPEC+’s surprise 1.66 MMBbl/d production cut
- U.S. job openings fell to the lowest since 2021, dampening market sentiment
- However, the U.S. Dollar fell to its lowest in more than two months, making oil more affordable for holders of other currencies
- Iraq awaits approval from Turkey to restart northern (Kurdish) exports
- Also, the market awaits Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls data amid weak economic indicators from China and the US, raising demand fears
- Iraq and KRG seek to restart northern oil exports amid new export agreement
- Following a dispute that halted oil flows from a pipeline in late March, Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have reached an agreement to restart northern oil exports
- The halted flow of 0.45 MMBbl/d of crude oil from the Fish-Khabur border area to the Ceyhan port was due to Iraq's arbitration win against Turkey
- Iraq's state-owned marketing company SOMO and the KRG's Ministry of natural resources will jointly export Iraq's northern oil, pending approval from Turkey
- Turkey increases diesel imports from Russia despite EU sanctions (BBG)
- Turkey imported a record amount of diesel-type fuel from Russia in March, exceeding 10 MMBbl, the highest in at least seven years, according to Vortexa
- EU sanctions in February banned seaborne imports of Russian fuel, leaving Turkey as one of the few legitimate buyers of Russian diesel
- Turkey may benefit from Russia's surplus diesel at attractive prices, possibly allowing the country to sell its own diesel at higher rates
- However, the impact of recent earthquakes on Turkey's diesel import requirements and refining system's lower levels is still uncertain