- WTI is down 83c to $37.96/Bbl, and Brent is down 81c to $40.12/Bbl
- The prompt-month oil contract is trading nearly 2% lower this morning
- Royal Dutch Shell announces largest U.S. refinery closure thus far
- China imposes artificial fuel floor to help bolster refining demand
- Royal Dutch Shell announced that it was closing its Convent, Louisiana refinery
- The company failed to find a buyer for its 211 MBbl/d refinery. This is the largest U.S. facility and first on the U.S. Gulf Coast to shut-down since the onset of the pandemic
- The refinery is the ninth to shut-down or be idled since the pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to fuel demand
- The company announced that it plans to sell all but six refineries and petrochemical plants globally on its quarterly earnings call. Nearly 2 MMBbl/d of refining capacity has been shut-down globally
- China re-imposes minimum fuel price to protect its refineries from weak global demand
- The National Development and Reform Commission said that they would fix fuel prices where refineries will maintain an acceptable margin at $40/Bbl crude
- The measure shielded the countries largest refineries earlier in the year at the country's drivers' expense. When the policy was lifted in June, Chinese crude imports soared to a record level of around 13 MMBbl/d
- The artificial floor helped fuel blendstock imports as well, as the refineries were able to take advantage of collapsing prices overseas