- Oil trades slightly lower as the Federal Reserve signals continued economic uncertainty
- May ’23 WTI lost 28c this morning to trade around $70.62/Bbl
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell advised that further tightening may be in store following Wednesday’s 25 basis-point interest rate hike and added that rates won’t be cut this year
- Powell warned that banking industry stress could cause a credit crunch with significant implications for the already slowing U.S. economy
- Additionally, the U.S. dollar continues to weaken relative to its recent highs further supporting crude prices
- EIA takes steps to improve the accuracy of skewed crude oil data (BBG)
- The EIA is taking steps to improve the accuracy of its crude oil supply and disposition data after discovering that its 2022 estimates overstated demand and understated production
- The agency plans to stop categorizing blended products as "supplied" and instead label them as "transfers to crude oil supply" to correct the skewed demand figures
- This change would have reduced demand estimates by 0.4 MMBbl/d in 2022, explained the agency
- French refinery strikes ripple across crude markets (BBG)
- France's refinery strikes are affecting the global oil market, with the resulting loss of demand exacerbating the weakness caused by banking sector turmoil
- The protests are expected to stop more than 0.5 MMBbl/d of oil processing capacity this month, or approximately 0.5% of global consumption, according to industry consultant FGE
- According to traders, they have also impacted the export grades that generally flow to the region from the U.S. and Africa and are even having an impact on the differentials of some physical crudes in Asia