Oil prices ended the day flat today (after touching the lowest level in almost two months on news reports said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak indicated OPEC+ could move to raise crude production).
Novak told Russia's Interfax news agency that the possibility of increasing oil production within the OPEC+ framework was still being analyzed.
"It always depends on the current situation; the balance of supply and demand. Everything is analyzed. Now there is no need to forecast anything. We need to look at how the market is feeling," he said, according to Interfax.
OPEC+ has largely been expected to roll over existing voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels a day beyond the second quarter.
But crude recovered, finding technical support ahead of tonight's API inventory data.
API
Crude +509k (-1.40mm exp)
Cushing +1.339mm
Gasoline +1.46mm
Distillates +1.713mm
Inventories rose across the whole complex according to API...
Source: Bloomberg
WTI tested its 100DMA for the third day in a row, and rejected it (for the third day in a row)...
And dipped after the inventory builds...
Overall, "oil is lower because a renewed battle between Israel and Hamas, in isolation, does not really affect oil-producing nations," Stewart Glickman, energy equity analyst at CFRA Research, told MarketWatch.
If Iran is "subsequently encouraged to do more direct attacks on Israel, it may be different," he said, but the market is "discounting this possibility."
Finally, President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve.
"We have been replenishing into the SPR for the last several months. I think we have sufficient supply in the SPR to address any kind of concern in the economy if we need it," Hochstein said, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters.
