Its all a bit of a mix-up at the moment, partly due to the Ukraine which is holding prices higher than the physical market would indicate, but as we move seasons refinery maintenance is coming to an end in the US but offshore work in the North Sea starts soon.
Traders tell me that Brent is structurally weak but holding as Libya is taking its time to build up and has caught some short sellers out and the Buzzard output reduction is lasting longer than expected.
In the US the weakness was halted by the API inventory stats which again found out the analysts who got the sign wrong, consensus of a build of 1.5m barrels turned out to be a draw of 1.8m in crude might have been forecast, after all those west coast refineries are preparing for the driving season as mentioned here yesterday. Complementing that was a build in product which is quite normal at this time of year.
Traders tell me that Brent is structurally weak but holding as Libya is taking its time to build up and has caught some short sellers out and the Buzzard output reduction is lasting longer than expected.
In the US the weakness was halted by the API inventory stats which again found out the analysts who got the sign wrong, consensus of a build of 1.5m barrels turned out to be a draw of 1.8m in crude might have been forecast, after all those west coast refineries are preparing for the driving season as mentioned here yesterday. Complementing that was a build in product which is quite normal at this time of year.
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