- WTI is up 6c to $61.17/Bbl, and Brent is up 8c to $67.29/Bbl
- Oil prices rose to their highest in over three months earlier this morning, supported by a large drop in crude inventories reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday
- Crude inventories fell by 7.9 MMBbl in the week to December 20, compared with analysts’ forecast of a draw of 1.83 MMBb
- More closely followed government data from the EIA will be released on Friday due to the holiday
- The jointly operated Khafji oil field held by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will produce 320 MBbl/d at the end of 2020, according to the Saudi energy minister
- The previously disputed partitioned Neutral Zone shared by the two countries hasn’t produced oil in more than five years
- Kuwait will operate the field
- Natural gas is up 8.5c to $2.257/MMBtu
- Weather models for the 11-15 day window have improved from the previous day’s runs
- At the end of the forecast window, below-average temperatures have moved more into eastern demand centers
- Near-term temperatures still remain far above-average
- The temperature in Chicago is set to hit a high of 58° F today, about 15° above normal averages for December 26
- Analysts’ expect the EIA to report a 144 Bcf withdrawal in underground natural gas storage, according to the Bloomberg survey
- If confirmed, the withdrawal would be 83 Bcf more than the same week last year and 43 Bcf larger than the five-year average
