- Oil trades lower after posting a third consecutive weekly gain
- May ’23 WTI lost 57c this morning to trade around $80.13/Bbl
- Crude futures posted a $5, or 6.6% gain last week following OPEC+'s surprise 1.66 MMBbl/d production cut
- Additionally, the Russian Energy Ministry announced a reduction in oil output by 0.7 MMBbl/d in March, following plans to continue production cuts of 0.5 MMBbl/d this year
- Friday's US jobs report slightly exceeded expectations, potentially renewing expectations of further rate hikes
- The U.S. Dollar strengthened relative to its recent lows, making oil more expensive for holders of other currencies
- Turkey plans to negotiate with Iraq before reopening 0.4 MMBbl/d Kurdish oil pipelines
- The market awaits the March CPI report this week in addition to OPEC and IEA’s monthly reports
- Russia says it reduced oil output by 0.7 MMBbl/d in March (BBG)
- The Russian Energy Ministry reported a reduction in oil output by 0.7 MMBbl/d in March
- The reduction is 40% higher than the pledged 0.5 MMBbl/d cut between March and December
- However, the figures are inconsistent with data in March seaborne exports and supplies to domestic refineries, adding uncertainty over the actual oil output