The oil market has come under further pressure as hopes for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continue to grow, ING commodities experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson noted.
Oil declines as hopes for peace between Russia and Ukraine increase
“While there have been positive signals from both the United States and Ukraine toward reaching an agreement, Moscow’s comments indicate that they will reject the agreement if it deviates from what was discussed in Alaska between President Trump and President Putin. We are likely to get more clarity on Russia’s position in the coming days, with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff visiting Moscow.”
“American Petroleum Institute figures released overnight show that US crude oil inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels over the past week, less than the 2.4 million barrel decline the market expected. Gasoline and distillate inventories increased by 500,000 barrels and 800,000 barrels, respectively. Overall, the numbers are largely neutral, with a smaller-than-expected decline in crude oil inventories and a smaller-than-expected increase in gasoline inventories.”
“ICE gasoil prices continued to weaken yesterday. They fell to about $28 per barrel, down from more than $38 per barrel last Tuesday. Time spreads in gasoil declined over the past week, falling from more than $43 per tonne to just over $27 per tonne yesterday. A peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine will likely remove, or at least reduce, key supply risks to the diesel market related to sanctions and drone attacks. Ukrainian government on Russian refinery infrastructure.”
