- WTI is down 7c to $44.48/Bbl, and Brent is down 2c to $47.40/Bbl
- Oil is trading slightly lower (-0.5%) this morning, after having its worst day in over two weeks
- OPEC+ and its allies are continuing informal negotiations, seeking to reach an agreement before the group’s next scheduled meeting on Thursday, December 3
- The American Petroleum Institute reported a build of 4.1 MMBbls last week, well above analysts’ expectations of 2.4 MMBbls (Reuters)
- OPEC+ is scheduled to meet tomorrow to reach an agreement to extend oil output cuts as coronavirus cases continue to threaten demand
- The cartel’s standing agreement would return over 1.9 MMBbl/d to market beginning in January
- Tensions flared during Monday’s meeting as the UAE aired grievances with the current output quota, and the increase in non-OPEC production that threatens the cartels market share, according to Bloomberg
- EIA weekly data is due at 9:30 am CST
- S. Crude Inventories: – 1,900 MBbls (Avg. Bloomberg surveys)
- S. Gasoline Inventories: + 1,554 MBbls
- S. Distillate Inventories: – 1,092 MBbls
- S. Refinery Utilization: + 0.63% change
- Natural gas is up 4.6c to $2.926/MMBtu
- Gas prices rose Wednesday morning amid cooler changes to the weather forecast
- Over the past 24 hours, cooler temperatures mostly in the 11-14 window, contributed to the addition of 1.6 HDDs or about 3 Bcf
- The January (prompt) contract has recovered about 20c to $2.92 since November 19 as heating demand has started to pick up
- U.S. LNG exports favored the United Kingdom in November amid Panama Canal delays (Platts)
- The U.K. was the preferred destination for U.S. LNG as wait times of up to more than a week for LNG tankers passing through the canal delayed Pacific shipments
- All LNG facilities in the U.S. look to be operating at or near full rates after reaching a record 11.3 Bcf/d on December 1, according to Bloomberg data
