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By Michael Poulson, A/S Global Risk Management

The weekly oil stocks data from the American Petroleum Institute published yesterday pointed to a draw of 7.6 mio. barrels of crude oil in the U.S. The data supported oil prices with Brent oil currently trading around $51.3. It is the 5th consecutive week of draws in crude oil inventories - now this afternoon's EIA report will be watched closely for confirmation/deviation. Consensus is actually a build in crude oil of 2.6 mio. barrels - expect volatility around the publishing (16.30 CET).

After last week's preliminary agreement in OPEC to curb oil output, OPEC invites non-OPEC countries to join the cuts. Talks with Russia, Oman, Axerbaijan, Kazakhstan are "very advanced" according to Venezuela's oil minister Del Pino. If the non-OPEC countries join in, total oil cuts could average 1.2 mio. barrels per day instead of around 700,000 barrels by OPEC alone. Also Iran's oil minister has advocated such non-OPEC participation.

Turning to economic data front, today is stuffed with U.S. key events, from jobs report various business activity reports. In addition a row of global Services PMIs will be published. Next huge economic data is Friday's U.S. Nonfarm Payroll and Chinese Caixin Service PMI (Saturday).

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A/S Global Risk Management is a provider of customised hedging solutions for the management of price risk on fuel expenses. The company has offices in Denmark and Singapore. For further details about its risk management products and services, please call +45 88 38 00 00 or email hedging@global-riskmanagement.com.