Biden Visits Israel, Putin in China
October 18, 2023
WTI crude oil is trading a dollar higher as of this writing as the news is full of headlines and stories that could impact energy markets. The biggest story is the explosion at a hospital in Gaza that Israel is blaming on Hamas and Hamas is blaming Israel. Iran’s rhetoric is elevated as a result, and this is a wild card for energy prices. As has been mentioned if Iran gets more deeply involved in the conflict it increases the potential for more unrest in the Middle East.
President Biden is in Israel this morning and the has also stirred up the geopolitical chatter. Also supporting all the political chatter this morning is the news that Vladimir Putin is in China meeting with President Xi.
The tension surround all of these activities is high, and the energy markets will be watching all these events for any new developments that might impact oil.
The API reported crude oil inventories were down 4.4 million barrels, gasoline stocks down 1.6 million barrels and distillates down 610,000. Average estimated for today’s DOE inventory data is crude up 85,000 barrels, gasoline down 627,000 barrels, and distillates down 1.288 million barrels.
Saudi Aramco’s Chief Executive, Amin Nasser said they are able to increase its production capacity in a couple of weeks if needed as global demand continues to rise. Comments out of Russia say that OPEC+ will discuss oil output increases at the next meeting if the global oil deficit worsens.
China’s Q3 GDP at 4.9% was higher than expected and offering some support to crude oil prices.