French President Macron Meets with Russian Counterpart Putin to Calm Eurozone Tensions
February 9, 2022
Crude oil and refined fuel product prices close 2.2% lower yesterday for the nearby futures trading month after reaching 7-year highs last Friday or Monday.
The API called crude oil supplies down 2.025 million barrels, gasoline supplies down 1.138 million barrels, and distillates down 2.203 million barrels. The stocks of crude oil at Cushing, Ok were called down 2.502 million barrels.
The news that French President Macron said his meeting with Russian President Putin helped calm the Ukraine/Russia geopolitics risks also help to see a price lower. Of course, the Russian government cast some doubt on this assessment.
Also helping the downside was the release of the EIA short-term energy outlook (STEO) monthly report where they forecast more productions. The EIA is now forecasting US crude oil production to average 11.964 million BPD in 2022 and 12.598 million BPD in 2023. EIA raised the forecast by 162,650 BPD in 2022 and by 187,586 BPD in 2023 from January’s report.
Average estimates for today’s propane inventory report are for stocks to draw down by 3.57 million barrels.
The EIA said the United States’ regular gasoline retail price averaged $3.31 per gallon in January, unchanged from December 2021 and up to 98 cents per gallon from January 2021. Retail diesel prices averaged $3.72 per gallon in January up 8 cents per gallon from December and up to $1.04 per gallon in January 2021.