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The number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending August 1 will be released in ten minutes.1. The Financial Times reported that sources familiar with the matter revealed that if inflation data released in the coming weeks is strong and market expectations for rising borrowing costs intensify, Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh will be prepared to raise interest rates at the September meeting. 2. According to Saudi media Hadas, senior sources said that Iran and Oman have reached a preliminary agreement on reopening the Sea of Hormuz. The agreement could be announced within days, but still requires approval from Irans National Security Council. The agreement will last for 60 days and aims to resume navigation. 3. The Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange announced that there are many uncertainties affecting the urea market recently. All member units are requested to strengthen investor education and risk prevention, reminding investors to participate rationally and trade in compliance with regulations. 4. According to Reuters, an official decree shows that the Democratic Republic of Congo has banned the export of copper and cobalt concentrates. 5. According to Mysteel, WBN, one of Indonesias largest nickel ore suppliers, has been approved for an additional RKAB quota of approximately 25 million tons of wet nickel ore in the second half of 2026. Including the quotas approved in the first half of the year, WBNs total RKAB nickel ore quota for 2026 has increased to approximately 37 million wet tons. Currently, no official documents regarding this quota approval have been issued to WBN. 6. A price list shows that Saudi Aramco will lower the price of its Arab Light crude oil for delivery to Asian customers by 50 cents per barrel next month, to $2 per barrel lower than the regional benchmark price. 7. According to Mysteel statistics, as of August 6, the spot lithium ore inventory of 32 sample lithium ore traders was 124,000 tons, an increase of 15,000 tons from the previous week, of which 91,000 tons were available for sale, an increase of 27,000 tons from the previous week. 8. Mysteel research shows that as of August 6, imported cotton inventory at major ports increased by 0.34% week-on-week, with a total inventory of 592,600 tons. Among them, Qingdao Port in Shandong Province held 507,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 94%; Zhangjiagang Port and surrounding warehouses in Jiangsu Province held approximately 44,600 tons of imported cotton; and other ports held approximately 41,000 tons. 9. Data from Enterprise Singapore (ESG) shows that as of the week ending August 5, Singapores fuel oil inventory rose by 1.443 million barrels to a five-week high of 19.577 million barrels. 10. According to Longzhong Information, as of August 6, 2026, the national daily output of float glass was 142,200 tons, a decrease of 0.42% compared to July 30; this week, the national float glass output was 995,500 tons, a decrease of 0.42% week-on-week and a decrease of 10.84% year-on-year. The total inventory of float glass sample enterprises nationwide was 74.898 million weight boxes, a decrease of 455,000 weight boxes month-on-month, a drop of 0.6%, and an increase of 21.1% year-on-year. The inventory days were 34.3 days, a decrease of 0.1 days from the previous period. 11. According to Longzhong Information, as of August 6th, the total MEG inventory in the main ports of East China was 354,000 tons, a decrease of 42,000 tons from Monday and a decrease of 62,000 tons from last Thursday, not only hitting a new low for the year but also the lowest level for the same period in the past five years; this week, the total domestic ethylene glycol production was 345,700 tons, an increase of 4,500 tons, a month-on-month increase of 1.31%. 12. According to Aladdin, the construction of the Guinea Yingu International Bauxite Project is progressing smoothly, and the entire project is expected to be completed in December this year; the system commissioning phase will begin in January and February 2027, and production and export of ore will officially commence in March, with a designed annual capacity of 30 million tons. 13. According to PanSugar Technology, as the 2025/26 crushing season draws to a close, the combined industrial inventory in Guangxi and Yunnan reached 3.12 million tons, both at historically high levels. The pressure to reduce inventory has become the core challenge in the final stage of the season. Under neutral assumptions, the combined industrial inventory in Guangxi and Yunnan as of the end of September is estimated to be approximately 1.72-1.88 million tons, significantly higher than the national average of 682,000 tons in the same period of the 2024/25 crushing season and the nearly 10-year average of 627,000 tons.Both WTI and Brent crude oil prices rose by about $0.40 in the short term, reaching $76.20 per barrel and $80.66 per barrel respectively.US Treasury bonds fell after British media reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh might be prepared to raise interest rates in September if inflation remains strong, and Alphabet (GOOG.O) launched a 10-part issuance of US dollar investment-grade bonds.Alphabet (GOOG.O) has launched a 10-part US dollar investment-grade bond issuance.

Oil Prices Continue to Rise Due to Soaring US Fuel Demand and Russia's Saber-Rattling

Charlie Brooks

Apr 14, 2022 09:31

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Brent oil futures closed up $4.14, or 4%, at $108.78 a barrel, adding to Tuesday's rise of 6.3 percent.


The New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude oil benchmark in the United States concluded the day up $3.65, or 3.6 percent, at $104.25. It increased by 6.7 percent in the previous session.


Crude prices continued their rally on Tuesday as China relaxed some of its most strict Covid shutdown measures in two weeks, raising prospects for an increase in energy demand in the world's second largest oil user.


Oil was also aided in the previous session by the OPEC+ alliance's warning that its non-Russian members cannot — or would not — compensate for Russian output lost as a consequence of Western sanctions.


Wednesday's gain was fueled by increased gasoline use in the United States, as shown by weekly energy inventory data issued by the Energy Information Administration, or EIA.


Apart from the increase in gasoline and diesel prices for automobiles and trucks, Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) also cited customer acceptance of higher tickets as a way to offset expenses, implying that demand for jet fuel would increase as well.


New geopolitical concerns arising from the Russia-Ukraine dispute boosted the market's upside, with Moscow threatening that any assault on its territory would be met by attacks on locations where such decisions were taken, including Kyiv.


"Oil prices seem to be extremely comfortable above the $100 barrier, since US and Chinese demand appears to be improving," said Ed Moya, an analyst at online trading platform OANDA.


According to the EIA, gasoline stockpiles, America's most utilized petroleum commodity, are low. The week ending April 8 had a 3.65 million barrel reduction, compared to a 2.04 million barrel fall the prior week ending April 1. Last week, analysts surveyed by Investing.com expected a dip of only 388,000 barrels.


Stockpiles of distillates, which are converted into diesel for trucks, buses, trains, and ships, as well as jet fuel, decreased 2.9 million barrels last week, compared to a rise of 771,000 barrels the week before. Analysts had anticipated a weekly fall of 515,00 barrels.


The fall in gasoline products mitigated any gloomy emotion generated by the largest weekly rise in US oil stocks in more than a year as a result of massive withdrawals from the country's emergency reserves.


Last week, crude stocks increased by 9.4 million barrels, compared to 2.4 million the prior week. According to the EIA's historical data, it was the largest weekly increase in oil stocks since the week of March 5, 2021.


The construction occurred in the context of a weekly release of at least 3.0 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, approved by the Biden administration to address a supply shortage exacerbated by the West's sanctions against Russia. According to EIA statistics, the US imported no crude oil from Russia for the second consecutive week.


Analysts surveyed by US news organizations had forecast an average build of 2.4 million barrels for the week ending April 8.


"Oil inventories were the greatest surprise, climbing much over estimates" despite the SPR releases, ForexLive analyst Greg Michalowski said.


In November, President Joe Biden started tapping the SPR to supply US refiners with oil lent from the reserve that they would not have to pay for but would have to return within a certain time period. The president believed that by doing so, there would be fewer oil transactions on the open market, resulting in lower prices for crude and refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel.


Previously, the Biden administration authorized the release of 30 million barrels from the SPR in March and another 50 million barrels in November, in collaboration with other oil-consuming nations such as China, Japan, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.


However, the administration's largest SPR release will occur in May, when it will issue 180 million barrels from the reserve. Another 60 million barrels are expected from additional International Energy Agency member nations' reserves.


However, the government's measures have had little impact on energy prices so far, with a barrel of oil maintaining above $100 a barrel and a gallon of gasoline hovering around $4, not far from March's record highs around $4.30. This is because refiners have been producing more petroleum products than typical at this time of year, resulting in unusually high consumption.

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