The monthly average U.S.-dollar price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose in April, by $6.17 (+8.4%) to $79.45/barrel. That advance occurred within the context of a moderately weaker U.S. dollar (broad trade-weighted index basis -- goods and services), the lagged impacts of February’s increase of 0.458 million barrels per day (b/d) in the amount of petroleum products demanded/supplied (to 20.0 million b/d), and accumulated oil stocks that continued diverging downward from the top of the five-year average range (April 2023 average: 464 million barrels).
Selected
highlights from the 28 April 2023 issue of OilPrice.com’s Oil &
Energy Insider include:
“Oil prices have stabilized around $78 per barrel for ICE Brent and $74 per barrel for WTI after Wednesday's double whammy of bad macroeconomic data,” wrote OilPrice.com’s Tom Kool. “The decline in U.S. capital goods spending confirmed fears that economic growth is slowing down in the United States, whilst refinery margins continued their descent this week as downstream players are finding it ever harder to stay profitable. As such, oil is set for its sixth straight monthly loss, despite the OPEC+ production cuts.” WTI’s spot price narrowly avoided that outcome, closing out April at $76.78/barrel, or $1.10/barrel above the March closing price.
OPEC Goes Against IEA.
OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais warned
the International Energy Agency (IEA) to be very careful about discouraging
investment into oil and gas, arguing that advocating for such measures and
finger-pointing at oil producers will lead to increased volatility in the
future.
Ship Insurers Warn of Russia's Dark Fleet. Top executives from the shipping industry have warned
that the oil price cap has made insurers even more wary of running afoul of U.S.
or EU sanctions and that depriving the increasing fleet of shadow tankers of
insurance raises navigation safety risks.
Suncor Doubles Down on Oil Sands. French oil major TotalEnergies sold
its carbon-heavy Canadian oil sands assets to Suncor Energy for $4.1 billion with
potential additional payments up to $450 million, equivalent to 135,000 b/d of
net bitumen production capacity and 2.1 Bbbls of 2P reserves.
Iran Seizes Oil Tanker Again. A Turkish-owned and operated tanker carrying Kuwaiti crude for Chevron in the US has been detained by the Iranian Navy after reportedly hitting another Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman, drawing the ire of the US which accused Tehran of interfering with navigational rights.
The foregoing comments represent the general economic views and analysis of Delphi Advisors, and are provided solely for the purpose of information, instruction and discourse. They do not constitute a solicitation or recommendation regarding any investment.
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