- Oil remains relatively unchanged after rebounding slightly yesterday
- June ’23 WTI is up 6c this morning to trade around $71.17/Bbl
- Crude initially dropped by over 50c following China's weak economic data
- Prices recouped some losses after the IEA increased their 2023 global demand growth forecast by 0.2 MMBbl/d
- The upward trend, marking the first rise in three sessions, was bolstered by the U.S.'s plans to restock the SPR and Canadian wildfires disrupting at least 0.3 MMBbl/d of production (Reuters)
- IEA also said that Russia hadn’t implemented the pledged output cuts and needs to cut 0.3 MMBbl/d in May to reach the target level (BBG)
- Russian seaborne crude exports rose again for the week ending May 12, marking the fourth increase in five weeks and hitting a new high, with most flows directed to Asia
- U.S. to buy 3 MMBbl to refill SPR in August (BBG)
- The U.S. is gearing up to purchase as much as 3 MMBbl of sour crude oil with the aim of restocking SPR, following the sale of over 200 MMBbl last year to moderate soaring energy costs
- Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced last week that the U.S. plans to buy back crude for the SPR once the drawdowns conclude in June
- The DOE also clarified that its refill strategy involves recovering oil from earlier trades in addition to direct purchases
- China maintains high refining in anticipation of a demand rebound (BBG)
- Chinese refiners maintained near-record levels of oil processing last month despite some plants undergoing seasonal maintenance
- The processing volume in April was close to 15 MMBbl/d, consistent with the amount processed in March
- China has stepped up its crude processing in anticipation of a surge in demand with the easing of its Covid restrictions