- Oil futures fell Wednesday morning as the Federal Reserve is expected to tighten policy at its meeting today (BBG)
- The Fed is likely to begin winding down the bond-buying program put in place last year as an initial step toward eventually increasing interest rates
- EIA U.S. oil inventory data due out at 9:30 a.m. CST
- Mexico is in the process of executing its annual hedge program, in what is a closely watched deal among the world’s energy traders (Bloomberg)
- The country, and OPEC “plus” member, has been purchasing put options, at a price range of about $60 to $65/Bbl
- Mexico’s hedge program is usually negotiated with secrecy among only a few counterparties so that the amount of volume does not disrupt the market
- In recent years, Mexico has shelled out more than $1 billion annually on the program (Reuters)
- EIA U.S. crude inventories
- Bloomberg survey
- U.S. crude inventories: +1,746 MMBbl
- U.S. gasoline inventories: -1,239 MMBbl
- U.S. distillate inventory: -870 MMBbl
- U.S. refinery utilization (change): +0.53%