French Oil Refinery Strikes Cause Disruptions
October 10, 2022
The Baker Hughes rig count said that oil rigs were down 2 to a total of 602 oil rigs and last year at this time was 433. US rigs and oil output has leveled off and remains around 12 million barrels per day and it appears it will stay in the area for the foreseeable further.
The Bureau of Labor Statistic reported that 263,000 new jobs were created in September, which was above the 250,000 new jobs expected by economist and well above the ADP’s 208,000 number.
Crude prices traded higher on Friday and were up every day last week to a five week high. Prices were down to start this new week but are coming off the lows as there was likely a bit of profit taking to start out the open of the markets Sunday night. Also putting some early pressure on prices is the continued outlook of slowing economic activities in China.
The French oil refineries strikes are expected to continue. These strikes have created supply disruptions and have caused stations to be out of fuel. The French government has tapped into their strategic reserve to try and ease the issues.
The Biden administration is considering additional releases from the SPR in response to the lasts OPEC+ decision to scale back output.