Headlines
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U.S. crude inventories at the highest level since 1990
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Gold hovers below 900$/oz
- Base metals higher across the board
Brent and Distillates
On Wednesday crude price slightly increased after U.S. equities gained. Nevertheless, its gains were limited by U.S. crude oil inventories that rose to their highest level since September 1990 last week, as oil demand remained weak and refiners slowed production.
The Energy Information Administration said commercial stockpiles of crude rose 5.6 mln.b to 366.7 mln.b in the week ended April 10, the sixth consecutive weekly rise in stocks and well above the consensus forecast for an increase of 1.9mln.b.
On the contrary petrol stocks fell more than expected, down 900 kb compared with the consensus forecast for a drop of 400 kb with consumption showed renewed weakness, averaging 9.05mln.b/d over the past four weeks, down 0.4 % compared with the same period a year ago.
In its latest monthly oil market report, OPEC expects demand to average 84.18 mln.b/d this year, 430 kb/d less than previously estimated. OPEC now forecasts overall world oil consumption to fall by 1.37 mlnb/d this year, compared with a previous projection of a fall of 1.01 mln.b/d. On the supply side, OPEC cut its estimate of non-OPEC oil production in 2009 to 50.61 mln.b/d, 90 kb/d less than it had previously predicted. Nevertheless, this would represent year-onyear growth in non-OPEC supply of 290 kb/d.
OPEC also reduced the estimated "call" on its own crude in 2009 to 28.74 mln.b/d, down from a previous figure of 29.07 mln.b/d. The revised call on OPEC for 2009 compares with an estimated 30.81 mln.b/d in 2008.
Based on its estimates OPEC said its own crude production averaged 27.904 mln.b/d in March, down from 28.049 mln.b/d in February.
Qatar's Oil Minister said it is still too soon for OPEC to react to a sharp revision in the forecast for global oil demand from the IEA, we'll have to wait and see.
Slightly higher crude prices will give OPEC bigger oil export revenue this year than previously thought, but total earnings will still be below half of last year's record levels, the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency said on Wednesday.
The U.S. EIA raised its estimate for OPEC's oil export earnings for this year to 476 bln.$, about 93 bln.$ more than the agency forecast last month.
Iraq has lowered the official selling price of its Basra Light crude loading in May to customers in Asia. The May price for Asian buyers fell to a discount of 0.35 $ to the average of Oman/Dubai quotes, down 0.50 $ from a premium of 15 USc in April.
Venezuela aims to more than double its oil shipments to China to 1 mln.b/d by next year. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is eager to sell more oil to Asia to reduce the OPEC nation's economic dependence on exports to the United States.
China is close to a deal to loan Kazakhstan 10 bln.$ in exchange for bigger access to oil assets in the central Asia, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.
Mexico's state oil company Pemex said on Tuesday it would invest 12.2 bln.$ to build a new refinery outside Mexico City and revamp another to tackle the country's mounting refined products deficit. The new refinery, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2015, will be built in Tula, a city north of the capital, which is already home to a Pemex refinery. Another refinery in the central city of Salamanca will be modernized at a cost aver 3 bln.$.
