Headlines
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Profit taking weights on gold
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Higher global stockpiles ease base metals
Brent and Distillates
On Wednesday crude rose on both sides of the Atlantic buoyed by growing expectations that OPEC's supply cuts may help balance on markets suffering by weakening demand.
Last week Japan's crude inventories rose to a threemonth high last week as refineries cut production reflecting weak demand in the middle of the peak winter season. Japanese refiners ran their facilities at an average 78.2% of total capacity of 4.9 mln.b/d in the week ended Jan. 17, down 10.7% lower than a year earlier, the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) said.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded on the NYMEX dropped to a record 11$/b discount to Brent last week amid concerns about brimming stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub, leading some analysts to question whether WTI remained a useful benchmark for the global oil market. According to NYNYMEX officials the current situation does not mean the benchmark is becoming less relevant.
OPEC is fully enforcing its deepest ever oil supply curbs, which should be enough to boost prices the cartel's president told Reuters. In his first interview since assuming the post at the start of the month, Botelho de Vasconcelos also said OPEC was unlikely to meet before its scheduled gathering in Vienna on March 15.
China's crude processing runs recorded their biggest drop in 7.5 years in December, as state oil firms continued to cut operation rates on demand concerns despite fuel price cuts and the government's economic stimulus. The world's second largest oil user processed 27.17 mln.t (i.e. 6.40 mln.b/d) of crude oil in December, down 7.4% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed today.
