Brent tops $86/b as crude heads for solid weekly gains

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Crude futures edged higher as oil benchmarks headed for a second week of solid gains, with Brent up nearly 4% from last Friday.

First month August 24 ICE Brent futures were trading at $86.17/b (1500 GMT), compared with Thursday’s settlement of $85.71/b and about 12 percent from early-month lows.

At the same time, August 24 NYMEX WTI was trading at $81.72/bfrom Thursday’s settlement of $81.29/b.

The latest weekly data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday helped support the firm trend as US gasoline inventories fell for the first time in four weeks and domestic demand hit a 2024 high.

Inventories fell as implied demand rose 3.8 percent on the week to 9.39 million bpd and the most since the Thanksgiving holiday peak last November.

Boosting hopes that summer driving demand will finally pick up, demand was in line with the same period last year for the second time since early May and 2.8% above its four-week average.

U.S. crude oil trade inventories also fell as imports eased from multi-year highs seen earlier in the month, while trade figures showed a sharp drop in net imports for the week to 2.636 million barrels. barrels, compared to 5.116 million bpd in the first week of June. .

Exports

On the export side, sales of predominantly light sweet US crude rose to an average of 4.418 million bpd, up from 3.188 million bpd in the first week of June.

Last Friday, August 24 Brent futures closed at $82.62/b, while August 24 WTI settled at $78.05/b, as both benchmarks rebounded from the previous week’s four-month lows.

Meanwhile, the first named storm of the 2024 season left the Texas refining sector largely unscathed, with only Citgo reporting flares and emissions above reportable levels at its 175,500 bpd Corpus Christi refinery.

Tropical Storm Alberto slammed into the Texas coast in the early hours of Thursday, with strong winds and heavy rain covering a large area between the Rio Grande River on the Mexican border and the San Luis Pass near Houston.

A second system was also being tracked by the National Hurricane Center, with an area of ​​low pressure forecast to form in southeastern Mexico later Friday that would soon move across the water.

“Environmental conditions appear favorable for gradual development after this system moves over the Gulf of Campeche tonight, and a tropical depression could form over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico this weekend as it slowly moves west-north -west or northwest,” the NHC said.