Despite the decline in U.S. crude oil inventories, Brent crude futures prices on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) fell during the Asian early trading session.
As of 12:00 PM Beijing time, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Brent crude oil contract price was $73.09 per barrel, down $30 from the settlement price on December 18, with the contract closing price on the day up $20 from the previous trading day.
The main crude oil contract price at the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) was $70.19 per barrel, down $39 from the settlement price on December 18, with the contract closing price on the day up $50 from the previous trading day.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 934,000 barrels to 421.1 million barrels last week, with exports reaching their highest level since July.
Inventories at the Cushing storage hub in Oklahoma increased by 108,000 barrels to 23 million barrels for the week ending December 13.
On December 18, the Federal Reserve lowered its target interest rate by 25 basis points, marking the third rate cut of the year, and indicated that it would only lower rates by 0.5 percentage points next year to avoid a resurgence of inflation. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) reduced the federal funds rate from the previous range of 4.5-4.75% to 4.25-4.50%. This follows a 25 basis point cut in November and a 50 basis point cut in mid-September, the first rate cuts since 2020.
Meanwhile, India's private sector Reliance Industries has signed a 10-year long-term contract with state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft for up to 500,000 barrels of Urals crude oil per day. This contract is renewed annually, involving at least 300,000 to 350,000 barrels of crude oil per month, with the remaining 150,000 to 200,000 barrels being optional purchases—depending on prices, discounts, and supply conditions—according to sources close to the contract. Neither Rosneft nor Reliance Industries has commented on the transaction.
India is one of the largest buyers of Russian crude oil—importing about 1.8 million barrels per day this year, roughly unchanged from 2023, according to trade analysis platform Kpler. Russian supplies accounted for over 40% of India's total imports from October to November. Reliance Industries is also the top Indian buyer of Russian crude oil for 2024—despite a decline in imports of over 6%, to 402,000 barrels per day.
Like most Russian oil companies, the stock price of Russian oil companies has fallen this year. Sanctions on the oil industry, declining profits, rising transportation costs, increased tax burdens, and higher borrowing costs have all put pressure on the stock prices of Russian oil companies.
(The above content comes from the latest views of Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency.)
Article reposted from: Jin Shi Data