Russia fully behind the OPEC production cut

The Russian Energy Minister has this morning in an interview on CNBC said that they are fully behind the Opec initiative to cut production. He said that Russia ‘is reducing production in stages’ and that by the end of April would have reached their target of 300/- b/d and that the cut is up to 200/- b/d at the moment. Overall the picture looks good too, Reuters claim that Opec production is down to 32.01m b/d which shows a 93% degree of ‘adhesion’ and getting better. If these are your yardsticks for the oil price then, at least in the short term it is time to close off those bearish bets, they are exposed.

Yesterday’s inventory stats were a mixed bag but for choice better than market expectations. Crude stocks built but not by as much as expected, 867/- vs f/c of 1m barrels was certainly tolerable for the market. Products drew big time again, gasoline was down 3.7m barrels against expectations of 1.9m and distillates fell 2.48m b’s, twice the guess. With April on the doorstep and time for refiners to step up to the plate it would be a reasonable guess that throughput will rise and increased runs will draw more crude.