DTN Oil Update
Oil Futures Up, Aramco Increased March OSPs
HOUSTON (DTN) -- Oil futures recovered Thursday morning from losses recorded in the last two trading sessions when both crude benchmarks hit their lowest level of the year due to concerns about the impact of trade tariffs on global oil demand and supply.
The bullish sentiment in the oil futures market was supported Thursday morning by a hike in Saudi Aramco's official selling price increases for March shipments. Aramco raised its March OSPs differentials for cargoes delivered to Asia by $2.10-$2.60 bbl, for Europe by $3.2 bbl and for the U.S. by $0.1-$0.3 bbl.
Saudi Arabia, Opec's largest oil producer, along with the other countries that integrate the oil cartel, maintained their decision to extend outputs of 2.2 million bpd until April during its first meeting of the year last week.
The 2.2 million bpd adjustments are expected to be gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026 "to support market stability." OPEC+ also will extend voluntary adjustment cuts of 1.65 million bpd, announced in April 2023 until the end of December 2026
OPEC+ took a different direction in response to the Trump administration's demand in January for Saudi Arabia and the oil cartel to lower oil prices, arguing that this could help to end the war in Ukraine.
On economic news, the Department of Labor reported Thursday morning that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 219,000 in the week ending Feb. 1, an increase of 11,000 from the 209,000 revised level from the previous week. The figure, however, was above market expectation of 214,000.
The front-month NYMEX WTI futures contract rose by $0.47 to $71.50 bbl while the April ICE Brent futures contract increased by $0.44 to $75.05 bbl. March RBOB futures contract edged up by $0.0122 to $2.0629 gallon while ULSD futures contract for March delivery rose by $0.0047 to $2.3889 gallon.
The U.S. Dollar Index strengthened Thursday morning, rising by 0.44% to 107.89 against a basket of foreign currencies.
Maria Eugenia Garcia can be reached at Maria.Garcia@dtn.com
