Despite the decrease in U.S. crude oil inventories, Brent crude futures prices on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) fell during early Asian trading hours.
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 for the day up $20 from the previous trading day.
The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) crude oil main contract price was $70.19 per barrel, down $39 from the settlement price on December 18, with the contract closing price for the day up $50 from the previous trading day.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 934,000 barrels to 421.1 million barrels last week, while exports surged to the highest level since July.
The inventory 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 this year, and signaled that it would only cut 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%. Prior to this, rates were cut by 25 basis points in November and by 50 basis points in mid-September, marking the first rate cut since 2020.
Meanwhile, India's private sector Reliance Industries has signed a 10-year long-term contract with state-controlled Russian Oil Company (Rosneft) involving up to 500,000 barrels of Urals crude oil per day. This contract is renewed annually and involves at least 300,000 to 350,000 barrels of crude oil per month, with an additional 150,000 to 200,000 barrels being optional purchases—depending on price, discounts, and supply conditions—according to sources close to the contract. Neither Russian Oil Company nor Reliance Industries has commented on the deal.
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 supply accounted for over 40% of India’s total imports from October to November. Reliance Industries is also the number one Indian buyer of Russian crude oil for 2024—despite a decline in imports of more than 6%, down to 402,000 barrels per day.
Like most Russian oil companies, Russian Oil Company has seen its stock price decline this year. Sanctions on the oil industry, falling profits, rising transportation costs, increased tax burdens, and higher borrowing costs have all put pressure on Russian oil stock prices.
(The above content is from the latest views of independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency Argus.)
Article reposted from: Jinshi Data