In the early Asian trading session, due to the upcoming OPEC+ meeting on December 1, ICE Brent crude oil futures prices fell slightly.
As of 12:00 PM Beijing time, the ICE Brent January contract price was $72.70 per barrel, down 13 cents from the settlement price on November 27, when the contract closing price was 2 cents higher than the previous trading day.
The WTI crude oil January contract price was $68.55 per barrel, down 17 cents from the settlement price on November 27, when the contract closing price was 5 cents lower than the previous trading day.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on November 27 that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 1.8 million barrels last week due to a decrease in imports into the Gulf Coast region. During the week ending November 22, inventories fell to 428.4 million barrels, down from 430.3 million barrels the previous week. Compared to the same period last year, inventories decreased by 21.2 million barrels.
The EIA also reported that total U.S. crude oil refinery inputs rose slightly by 0.3% last week to an average of 16.6 million barrels per day. The utilization rate of refineries increased by 0.3 percentage points to 90.5%.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers association warned that if elected President Donald Trump implements his tariff plan, U.S. refiners processing Canadian crude oil will struggle to find alternative supplies, which could threaten some fuel producers.
On November 25, Trump stated that he would impose a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico, claiming that these two countries need to strengthen shared borders with the United States.
This tariff could shift Canadian crude oil exports from U.S. West Coast refiners to the Asia-Pacific region via the TMX pipeline, which has a capacity of 590,000 barrels per day.
Since the TMX pipeline opened in May, U.S. refiners have increased their purchases of Canadian crude oil. The cheaper prices and the geographical proximity to Vancouver (the loading point for TMX crude) have made heavy sour crude oil favored on the U.S. West Coast. However, the proposed tariffs would strengthen TMX prices, no longer making it the cheapest option for heavy sour crude.
About 34 million barrels or approximately 161,000 barrels per day of TMX crude oil have been loaded to the Asia-Pacific region. According to data analysis company Vortexa, China, as the largest buyer in the Asia-Pacific region, purchased about 83% of this crude oil.
(The above content comes from the latest views of Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency)
Article reposted from: Jinshi Data