Energy- OPEC output edges higher
The oil market had a strong day yesterday with ICE Brent settling almost 2% higher after unverified reports that China could look to ease its zero-Covid policy. However, for now, this is nothing more than a rumour. China’s covid policy has weighed heavily on oil demand this year with crude oil imports over the first nine months of 2022 averaging 9.95MMbbls/d, down 4.4% YoY.
Numbers from the API overnight have provided some further support to the market in early morning trading in Asia. US crude oil inventories are reported to have fallen by 6.53MMbbls over the last week. This is significantly more than the roughly 200Mbbls draw the market was expecting. For refined products, distillate fuel oil stocks increased by 865Mbbls, while gasoline stocks fell by 2.64MMbbls, which would have boosted sentiment further. Overall, it was a bullish set of numbers. However, we will need to see what the more widely followed EIA numbers show later today.
Preliminary numbers from Bloomberg show that OPEC oil production in October increased by 30Mbbls/d to average 29.98MMbbls/d. The largest increases came from the UAE, Nigeria and Iraq, whose output increased 70Mbbls/d, 50Mbbls/d and 50Mbbls/d respectively. While Angola, Congo and Libya saw the largest declines with output falling by 60Mbbls/d, 40Mbbls/d and 30Mbbls/d respectively. Production target levels for the broader OPEC+ group were lowered by 100Mbbls/d for October. However, given that most producers are still producing well below their target production levels, the group is still well ahead in terms of compliance levels.
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