- Oil reverses some of yesterday’s losses after posting six consecutive days of declines
- April ’23 WTI gained nearly $1 this morning to trade around $75/Bbl
- Crude extended losses yesterday after Fed minutes showed concerns about inflation staying high, hinting that rate hikes might continue
- Oil prices were further pressured with the U.S. dollar strengthening to a nine-week high
- Although recessionary concerns continue to weigh on prices, the market continues to watch Chinese demand recovery and Russian supply risk
- Additionally, crude loadings have resumed at the CPC oil terminal on the Black Sea coast as the weather improved
- India’s oil ministry forecasts demand for refined oil products to hit a record over the next year (BBG)
- According to government projections, consumption of oil products is set to rise by 4.9% to 233.8 million tons (approximately 4.8 MMBbl/d) in the 12 months following April, with demand for diesel rising by 4%, gasoline by 8%, and jet fuel by 16%
- IEA, in its recent monthly report, sees fuel demand to average 5.35 MMBbl/d in 2023, up by 0.2 MMBbl/d
- The expected increase coincides with China's recovering demand, while India has emerged as one of the top buyers of Russian crude
- The ministry added that the government-owned Indian Oil Corp. is increasing capacity by 25 million tons to meet the country's growing demand