This is a legacy page. Please click here to view the latest version.
Thu 17 May 2018, 07:23 GMT

Oil at three-and-a-half-year high on inventory deviations, geopolitical uncertainty


By A/S Global Risk Management.


Michael Poulson, Global Risk Management.
Image credit: Global Risk Management
The weekly oil inventory report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) yesterday showed a larger-than-expected draw in crude and gasoline inventories and completely in the opposite direction of the weekly oil stocks data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), and this supported oil prices. Brent increased by $1 following the EIA release. Markets are increasingly focusing on potential shortage of supplies as global inventories are shrinking.

EIA crude oil inventories: -1.1404M barrels (-0.763M expected) API crude oil inventories: 4.854M barrels (-1.850M previous)

In its monthly oil market report, published yesterday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its global oil demand growth forecast for this year by 0.1 mio. barrels per day (bpd) to 99.2 mio. bpd. Supplies are currently 98 mio. bpd, but according to the IEA: "non-OPEC growth... will grow by 1.87 mio. bpd in 2018". The reason for the revision of demand growth could be the increasing oil prices, which could dampen consumption. According to the agency, global inventories have dropped below the 5-year average - which was a goal for the current oil production cut agreement - for the first time since 2014.

Turning to economic data, today's main potential market mover is the U.S. Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index along with a couple of Fed member speeches. Other than that, no major releases.

BP  

Athens cityscape. Angelicoussis Group seeks senior marine fuels desk lead in Athens  

Greek shipping group advertises senior bunker procurement role requiring 15 years' experience.

BP logo. BP seeks marine commercial manager in London to support global marine fuels business  

Role at BP Marine falls under BP's GDIST unit — part of its Trading & Shipping (T&S) division.

Hiroyuki Takumi and Wolfgang Dunger. Mitsui E&S completes factory acceptance test of Japan’s first WinGD methanol dual-fuel engine  

Engine set to be installed on the first of four vessels being built for a domestic shipowner.

mtu Series 2000 generator set. Rolls-Royce Power Systems to showcase variable-speed gensets and SCR systems at SMM 2026  

New mtu Series 2000 units claim up to 15% fuel and CO₂ savings over constant-speed alternatives.

CMA CGM Roi Arthur naming ceremony. CMA CGM names 15,000-teu methanol-powered vessel Roi Arthur  

Newbuild joins the French carrier's REX2 service connecting East Asia with the Red Sea.

Quadrise and Licella logo. Quadrise and Licella update joint development agreement to advance HTL-derived marine biofuels  

Amended deal sets a clearer testing roadmap for bio-oil-based emulsion fuels for shipping.

Clean Star vessel. Atlas Maritime takes delivery of dual-fuel LNG PCTC, secures $80,000/day charter  

The 7,000 RT car carrier has been placed on a two-year time charter at a rate Atlas calls record-breaking.

Kota Eagle ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering operation. PIL’s Kota Eagle helps Shanghai pass 2 million cbm LNG bunkering mark  

Milestone said to have been reached when boxship received 4,549 cbm of LNG from SIPG Energy’s LNG bunkering vessel.

Keel-laying ceremony for B100-compatible vessel. Pinnacle Marine lays keel for fourth B100-compatible harbour craft in Singapore newbuild programme  

Singapore operator expands its B100-compatible fleet amid strong chartering demand.

E-fuels volumes per country. Europe risks falling behind China in race to produce e-fuels for shipping  

Europe has 69 e-fuel projects but only six are operational, while China is scaling rapidly.


↑  Back to Top


 Recommended