- West Texas Intermediate moved above $72/Bbl Friday morning after a 3% dive on Thursday
- The White House and Republicans were reportedly moving closer to an agreement on the debt ceiling before breaking for the holiday weekend
- The U.S. dollar pared some gains as progress was made on the debt ceiling
- AEGIS notes that recent dollar strength has been a significant factor in holding oil prices in the low $70’s
- There are little signs Russia is cutting oil production as promised (Bloomberg)
- Crude shipments from Russian ports in the four weeks to May 21 were more than 480 MBbl/d higher than February levels, according to shipping tracking data by Bloomberg
- Russia claims that seaborne crude flows have been supported since the output cut by a diversion of barrels that would have headed to Europe via pipeline
- However, data shows that those pipeline flows had fallen well before the supposed output reduction came into effect (BBG)