- Oil is headed for the fourth day of gains after reversing an earlier decline
- WTI is trading slightly higher this morning, at above $77/Bbl
- TC Energy restarted a segment of its 0.622 MMBbl/d Keystone oil pipeline that was not affected by the leak that caused the shutdown on Dec 8
- The company still has no timeline for the full restart of the pipeline and is awaiting regulatory approval from PHMSA
- The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday
- The central bank reiterated that inflation in the US remains elevated, and higher rate hikes in the future were not ruled out
- China's refinery output reached its highest level in a year after refiners increased output to boost export (BBG)
- A total of 14.56 MMBbl/d were processed last month, up 5% from October and the highest in a year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed
- The uptick in the world’s largest crude importer was driven by oil-product exports (highest since June 2021) than domestic demand (fell 2.5% to 13.82 MMBbl/d)
- Additionally, the demand outlook remains slow as China’s economic activity weakened in November before the government swiftly dropped its Covid Zero policy
- Goldman cuts price forecasts as it projects an oil market surplus in early 2023
- The bank cut its Brent oil projections for the first and second quarters of 2023 from $115 and $105/Bbl, respectively, to $90 and $95/Bbl
- The bank said that there was less of a chance of a rise in oil prices this winter due to China's lower-than-anticipated oil demand, Russia's exports returning to pre-war levels, and easing production issues in Kazakhstan and Nigeria
- In 2023, it forecasts global demand to increase by 2 MMBbl/d as China reopens and international travel picks up
- For 2023, Goldman said it sees Brent oil to average at $98/Bbl and WTI to average $92/Bbl, down from its earlier projections of $110 for Brent and $105 for WTI