DTN Oil Update

Karim Bastati
DTN Analyst

VIENNA (DTN) -- Most oil futures softened Thursday morning on reports that the U.S. was considering easing sanctions on Russia, while NYMEX WTI futures bucked the trend after an American Petroleum Institute (API) report showed a hefty draw to commercial crude oil inventories.

By 9:30 a.m. EDT, ICE Brent for December delivery was down $0.97 to trade near $105.09 bbl, while NYMEX WTI for November delivery rose $1.07 to $96.16 bbl.

Downstream, NYMEX ULSD for November delivery retreated by $0.0995 to $4.8279 gallon, and front-month RBOB futures fell $0.0606 to $3.1989 gallon.

The U.S. Dollar Index softened by 0.47 points to 101.875 against a basket of foreign currencies.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright at a conference earlier this week reportedly told participants that the administration was looking into easing the sanctions regime on Russian energy trade, specifically on the country's so-called shadow fleet, to combat record high tanker rates. Given that European shippers would continue to be barred by EU and UK sanctions from transporting Russian oil, a unilateral move by the United States is unlikely to have a significant impact on the market.

On Wednesday, API reported that U.S. commercial crude stocks plunged last week, estimating a draw of 11.12 million bbl. While a large part of this decline can be attributed to temporary weather-induced production shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America), a second consecutive weekly draw, coinciding with fizzling out crude oil releases from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, would still point to a tightening balance. Official government data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is schedule for release at noon EDT Thursday, both weekly reports being delayed by one day because of a federal holiday on Monday.

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