- WTI is up 27c to $61.55/Bbl, and Brent is up 27c to $64.34/Bbl
- OPEC+ leaves oil market guessing ahead of todays' ministerial meeting
- Saudi Arabia and Russia held bilateral talks on Thursday to reach a consensus on its policy moving forward. Russia has pressed the Kingdom to allow the taps to open and bring output back to the market, while Saudi Arabia prefers a more cautious approach, according to Bloomberg
- The group is currently cutting around 7.12 MMBbl/d. Analysts estimate the group will return 1.5 MMBbl/d in output, with Saudi Arabia undoing their 1 MMBbl/d supplementary cuts while the rest of the group brings another 500 MBbl/d online
- Financial futures outpace physical pricing as refinery maintenance season approaches (Reuters)
- J.P. Morgan said the benchmark Brent futures contract, which neared $68 a barrel last week before slipping to about $64 on Thursday, was "running two quarters ahead and $4 above what fundamentals warrant."
- Physical demand for crude from refiners and other consumers has ebbed this month, with physical markets trading below paper markets
- Unipec re-offered six of its ten cargoes for sale but drew little interest on the open market, according to Reuters
- The EIA reported a build of 21.5 MMBbls in U.S. crude-oil inventories for the week ending 2/26/2021
- This week's stats were largely distorted by the freeze-induced outages affecting refineries in PADD III, where stocks increased by 20.85 MMBbls
- Total U.S. refinery utilization fell another 12% last week to bring the rate to 56%, per the EIA
- Gasoline inventories also declined by 13.62 MMBbls, the largest drawdown in stocks since 1990