- WTI is up 56c to $53.41/Bbl, and Brent is up 62c to $56.43/Bbl
- A strong crude draw reported by the EIA on Wednesday wasn't enough to help WTI gain more than 24c on the day yesterday
- The EIA reported a whopping 9.9 MMBbl crude inventory draw for the week ended January 22 — The biggest decline in six months
- The large draw was mostly concentrated in PADD 3 on the Gulf Coast and the change in imports and exports were the big movers
- Imports were 2 MMBbl/d lower than the previous week's number of 3.79 MMBbl/d and exports rose by 1.1 MMBbl/d to 3.35 MMBbl/d
- Iran has been getting unwanted attention recently as companies that track vessel movements have reported upticks in Iranian oil reaching China (Bloomberg)
- Indonesia seized two vessels on Sunday that were transferring oil at sea, a common way to disguise the origin of cargoes
- Since President Biden took office there has been speculation that the U.S. would take a softer approach to Iran than Trump, who imposed heavy sanctions on Iran
- Iran is starting the year as the "biggest wildcard" for oil prices, according to Citigroup's Ed Morse. Mr. Morse's opinion is there is unlikely to be a renegotiation of the nuclear deal or sanctions relief from the U.S. until August when a new Iranian government is in place after elections in May