Brent crude futures fell slightly in early Asian trading as the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a build in U.S. crude inventories.
As of 12:00 Beijing time, the price of the main Brent crude oil contract for August was US$85.06 per barrel, down 19 cents from the close of June 26, while the contract rose 24 cents from the previous trading day at the end of June 26.
The price of the main August crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $80.67 per barrel, down 23 cents from the close on June 26, while the contract rose 7 cents from the previous trading day at the end of June 26.
According to the EIA report, EIA crude oil inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels to 460.7 million barrels last week due to slower refinery operations and lower exports. Compared with the same period last year, inventories increased by 7 million barrels. Crude oil inventories in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased by 1.3 million barrels to 372.2 million barrels. This is the largest single-week increase since the Biden administration of U.S. President began to replenish the SPR in the second half of 2023. It should be noted that SPR inventories are not included in the EIA's total commercial crude oil inventories.
U.S. oil and gas activity rose slightly in the second quarter after weather-related disruptions early in the year, according to the latest survey from the Dallas Federal Reserve. The Dallas Fed's business activity index - the broadest measure of conditions in the quarterly survey - rose to 12.5 from 2.0 in the first quarter. The index is calculated by subtracting the percentage of companies reporting declines from the percentage of companies reporting increases.
South Sudan has been unable to restart exports of its heavy crude because fighting around Sudan’s Khartoum refinery has prevented about 100,000 bpd of heavy crude from reaching Sudan’s Bashayer export terminal. South Sudan’s medium crude output has not been affected because it is transported to Bashayer via a different pipeline that is still operational.
The fire at Nigeria's Dangote refinery has been brought under control and the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery is now operating normally, according to company officials. Dangote recently started up a desulfurization unit as a pre-commissioning of the refinery's fifth phase.
The global tanker fleet may struggle to keep up with demand in the coming years as new tanker construction is limited while crude oil demand is expected to rise, a panel of shipowners said at the Marine Money conference in New York. Commercial ship construction takes years, and most shipyards around the world have scheduled until the late 2020s to build container ships ordered when container freight rates soared due to port congestion and rising consumer purchasing power during the Covid-19 pandemic.
(The above content comes from the latest views of Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency)
The article is forwarded from: Jinshi Data
