Tausi Insider

U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose by more than 10 million barrels last week, the most since March 2021, buoyed by releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and as refiners reduced activity. Crude inventories increased by 10.2 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 9 to 424.1 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.6 million-barrel drop. The crude stockpile figure included a 2.26 million per day (bpd) adjustment. Kpler analyst Matt Smith attributed the adjustment to exports which were considerably lower on the U.S. Gulf last week than the EIA reported. The sharp crude build come as a recession threatens economies in the United States and Europe, worrying markets about demand for crude oil and petroleum products. SPR crude inventories fell by 4.7 million barrels in the week to 382.3 million, their lowest since January 1984, while stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.s futures rose by 426,000 barrels, the EIA said. Last week’s shut...

Oil fell by about $2 per barrel on Friday, swept up in a wider rout in global equities on fears of a looming recession, after central banks across Europe and North America signaled they will continue to battle inflation aggressively. Brent crude futures fell $1.96, or 2.4 per cent, to $79.25 a barrel by 1:20 p.m. EDT (1820 GMT), while West Texas Intermediate futures were down $1.52, or 2 per cent, to $74.59 a barrel. The U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it will raise interest rates further next year, even as the economy slips toward a possible recession. On Thursday, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank also raised interest rates to fight inflation. “The talk around the campfire has suddenly become all about demand destruction in the face of a recession,” said Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. “The economic situation is less than stellar. Not today, but we are drifting in the direction of testing $70-per-barrel WTI again, and things could get very ugly f...

Crude oil pipes at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in Freeport, Tex., on June 9, 2016. Richard Carson/Reuters U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned Republicans in a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday that limiting President Joe Biden’s authority to tap the nation’s oil reserves would undermine national security, cause crude shortages and raise gasoline prices. Biden repeatedly tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) last year to manage rising gasoline prices and supply disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The sales shrunk the SPR to about 380 million barrels, the lowest level since 1984, raising concerns about energy security. A bill called the Strategic Production Response Act, introduced earlier this month by Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, would limit presidential authority in releasing oil from the strategic reserve, except in the case of a severe energy supply interruption. McMorris Rodgers now chairs the House Energy & Commer...