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Fuel oil trend

Rotterdam: $ 3 higher
Singapore: $ 11 lower
US Gulf: $ 1 lower

Oil inventories and a row of PMI indices (Brent: $57.3)

Over the holidays, oil prices took another dip downwards and Brent is currently trading around $57.3.

Wednesday's weekly U.S. oil inventories showed a larger-than-expected draw in crude oil stock (-1.745M versus 7.267M previous). Builds in distillates and gasoline stocks were around consensus expectations.

Yesterday, the markets were closed due to the New Year holiday, but the official Chinese Manufacturing PMI for December was published and showed a slight decrease from November; 50.1 versus 50.3 previous. Early tomorrow morning, the country's Non-Manufacturing PMI for December will be published.

OPEC’s December output was around 30,239 mio. barrels per day; a decrease of 122,000 bpd from November output. Official output target is 30 mio. barrels per day. Libyan oil production decreased to around 450,000 bpd in December; the lowest level since July – in late December, rebels attacked Es Sider, the largest oil export terminal and output is allegedly down to around 300,000 barrels per day.

Later today, the U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI for December will be published; indicating the manufacturing activity in the country. This morning, the German and UK Manufacturing PMIs will also be published.