OfBusiness Petroleum Dailies

6th May’23

Price

• Brent crude was up 0.01%, to $75.26 a barrel at 0250 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up 30 cents, or 0.10%, at $71.32 a barrel after four straight days of losses.
• MCX crude is at 5847 with a rise of 2.78% from the previous session.

Demand and Supply

• U.S. energy firms cut the most oil and natural gas rigs in a week since February, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said in its closely followed report on Friday.
• The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by seven to 748 in the week to May 5.
• Oil rigs fell by three to 588 this week, in their biggest weekly decline since March. Gas rigs fell by four to 157, their biggest weekly decline since February.
• U.S. oil futures were down about 11% so far this year after gaining about 7% in 2022. U.S. gas futures, meanwhile, have plunged about 52% so far this year after rising about 20% last year.

News

• Driverless trucks produced by Russia’s Kamaz have begun to carry cargoes across the snowy Arctic tundra for oil producer Gazprom Neft, the energy company said on Friday.
• Gazprom Neft said the trucks will service the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye oilfield in the Gydan peninsula. They will deliver cargoes across the 140-km (87 miles) route, which connects the field with the Tazovsky settlement.
• The Russian rouble surged to a more than one-month high beyond 77 against the dollar in early trade on Friday, ahead of a long weekend in Russia and as oil prices staged a partial recovery.
• At 0703 GMT, the rouble was 1.1% stronger against the dollar at 77.21, earlier touching 76.98, its strongest point since March 31. It had gained 1% to trade at 85.37 versus the euro . It had firmed 1% against the yuan to 11.16.
• Signs of strength in the physical oil market suggest the selloff — which included a brief, dramatic plunge to the lowest intraday level since 2021 — may have been excessive. Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan said on Thursday that the market was actually “pretty tight.”

OFB’s Opinion

• It is expected that prices will rise due to the current reduction in supplies from OPEC+ and increasing demand. Additionally, the fall in US stockpiles and rigs count is anticipated to further contribute to this upward trend in prices.