- Crude futures give up gains from earlier in the week, retreating from its intra-week high of $61.14 reached during the height of the storm on Tuesday
- Texas producers begin restarting wells following the deep freeze that knocked out over 4 MMBbl/d (40%) of the country's oil supply (Reuters)
- Iran rejects U.S. bid to start talks before the U.S. rejoins the JCPOA
- Citigroup estimates that as much as 1MMBbl/d of Permian oil could remain offline over the next ten days
- Freezing weather may have damaged equipment which could stymie the return of production. Still, as the power returns to shale fields, most of the output should return quickly
- Several U.S. Gulf Coast refineries were damaged during the storm and will require repairs which may take several weeks to get back to full operations. During the height of the storm, crude processing capacity fell by 5.5 MMBbl/d, according to Energy Aspects
- President Joe Biden said it would be willing to meet with Iran to discuss sanctions and the JCPOA (Bloomberg)
- Iran responded by saying that the U.S. must first return to the Iran nuclear deal and lift sanctions if it wants talks with the Islamic Republic
- AEGIS notes if Iran sanctions are eased, a potential 1.8 MMBbl/d in exports could return to the market, adding pressure to the global S&D balance