Russia Extends Oil Export Curbs: Commodities Update and Natural Gas Inventory Surge
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The Commodities Feed: Russia to extend oil export curbs
Crude oil prices have been trading firm this morning after Russia confirmed that it will extend export curbs, although the details are still not available. US natural gas inventory continue to increase at a strong pace providing some comfort to the market on natural gas supplies, even as uncertainty about Australian LNG continues.
Energy – Russian oil export cuts to continue
ICE Brent prices traded firm yesterday and continued the gains this morning after Russia announced an extension of export curbs. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in a televised meeting that the country has agreed to extend the export curbs, although the details haven’t been provided yet. Russia made a voluntary cut to its oil exports of around 500Mbbls/d for August and 300Mbbls/d for September. Saudi is also likely to extend the voluntary production cuts of around 1MMbbls/d for October as demand concerns remain.
China has issued an export quota of around 12m tonnes for clean refined products including gasoline, jet fuel and diesel in its third quota release for the year. China has so far issued an export quota of around 40m tonnes for clean products in 2023 compared to around 37.25m tonnes of export quota allocated for the full year 2022. Slow domestic demand and a ramp-up in refining capacity have been creating a surplus of products in the Chinese market and a higher quota is aimed at reducing this surplus.
Finally, the Energy Information Administration in the US reported that natural gas inventory in the country increased by 32Bcf over the last week taking total inventory to 3,115Bcf as of 25 August. US inventory of natural gas is higher by around 484Bcf compared to year-ago levels and around 249Bcf higher than the five-year average for this point in the season.
Higher gas stocks in the US and Europe provide some comfort to the gas market when a short-term supply disruption from Australia cannot be ruled out. The uncertainty over the Australian gas supply from two LNG plants (Gorgon and Wheatstone) continues, with workers rejecting the latest pay package from the company with negotiations set to resume. Without an agreement in place, workers could initiate industrial action from 7 September.
