OilPrice.com - Jan 14

[dan_s]

Friday, January 14th, 2022

It may seem somewhat counter intuitive for the oil market to shake off news regarding a potential Chinese SPR release, but that is exactly what has happened this week. With the mood still firmly bullish on the back of a weakening dollar, Libyan supply issues, and lower-than-expected OPEC+ output, the oil price rally was driven higher by reports of product inventories hitting multi-year lows. With refiners still wary about ramping up operations to full capacity, middle distillate stocks have become so scarce that backward action in the prompt month for both diesel and jet fuel rose to its highest level since September 2019. With stocks unlikely to see a swift replenishment, the global case for oil prices seems to be very bullish. As of Friday, the global benchmark Brent traded around $85 per barrel, whilst WTI was nearing the $83 per barrel mark.

China Announces New Year SPR Release. As part of the ongoing US-led initiative to tame runaway oil prices, China announced it would release crude from its strategic inventories around the Lunar New Year, without specifying the exact quantities.

Spot Asian LNG Price Declines amid Weak Demand. Spot LNG prices in Asia continued their fall this week as ample inventories and above-average warm weather kept buying activity subdued, with March ‘22 delivery prices already at $25 per mmBtu.

[Fraser921]

Crude is up $ 5 on the week with the release, lol

Dan , stay another week at your Happy place!