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By the Oil Desk at Freight Investor Services Ltd.

Brent closed down 0.09 last night to $55.92 and WTI closed at $53.14 down 0.06. So, this oil market, what's going on? We're still in this range. Seriously, what are we waiting for? China data is out and imports are up, refineries continue to be built and demand looks good, so why aren't we breaking out of this range? Actually scratch that - why is the market down this morning? And if you say a stronger dollar I'm going to implode. What's clear is that we are just hovering around technical support and resistance levels. News that is coming out is not enough to sway the market from one side to another and EIA data later will hardly be enough for the bears to leverage off to cause a downward tick. Or will it? The ironic thing about EIA data in a narrow, rangebound market is that it is the only short-term indicator for the world's biggest oil importer, so it does provide some short-term direction. At least for the technical players anyway, and if this market is being controlled by algorithms, then perhaps another build on crude could see us break out of this range.

Economic Data/Events: (London times)

* IHS Markit's CERA Week conference, Houston, 3rd day of 5, including Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne, Canadian Natural Resources Minister James Gordon Carr and executives from Petronas, Gazprom, Continental, Anadarko, Cheniere, GAIL, Chevron, Japan's METI, ABB

* 1:30pm: U.S. Nonfarm Productivity 4Q final, est. 1.5% (prior 1.3%)

* 3:30pm: EIA weekly U.S. oil inventory report; TOPLive blog coverage begins 3:20pm

* Today:

* Genscape weekly ARA crude stockpiles report

Singapore 380 cSt

Apr17 - 312.25 / 314.25

May17 - 312.50 / 314.50

Jun17 - 311.50 / 313.50

Jul17 - 310.75 / 312.75

Aug17 - 310.00 / 312.00

Sep17 - 309.00 / 311.00

Q2-17 - 312.00 / 314.00

Q3-17 - 310.00 / 312.00

Q4-17 - 307.00 / 309.50

Q1-18 - 305.25 / 307.75

CAL18 - 298.50 / 302.00

CAL19 - 284.00 / 289.00

Singapore 180 cSt

Apr17 - 317.50 / 319.50

May17 - 318.25 / 320.25

Jun17 - 318.00 / 320.00

Jul17 - 317.50 / 319.50

Aug17 - 316.75 / 318.75

Sep17 - 316.00 / 318.00

Q2-17 - 318.00 / 320.00

Q3-17 - 316.75 / 318.75

Q4-17 - 314.00 / 316.50

Q1-18 - 312.25 / 314.75

CAL18 - 306.00 / 309.50

CAL19 - 292.75 / 297.75

Rotterdam Barges

Apr17 296.25 / 298.25

May17 296.75 / 298.75

Jun17 296.25 / 298.25

Jul17 295.50 / 297.50

Aug17 294.75 / 296.75

Sep17 293.75 / 295.75

Q2-17 296.50 / 298.50

Q3-17 294.75 / 296.75

Q4-17 290.75 / 293.25

Q1-18 290.00 / 292.50

CAL18 284.00 / 287.50

CAL19 270.25 / 275.25

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Founded in 2002, Freight Investor Services is a specialist in dry bulk and commodity derivatives, including cargo freight, iron ore, fertilizer and bunker fuel. The company has offices in London, Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai.

For further details about fuel oil swaps or to discuss trading opportunities, please contact Andrew Cullen, Client Relations & Development Manager, on +44 207 090 1126, or email AndrewC@freightinvestor.com.