- Oil is lower by more than $1, to $73.60, reversing some gains from yesterday
- The US and UK militaries have continued to strike targets in Yemen in response to attacks on shipping in the region, with a significant amount of vessels now avoiding the Red Sea
- Crude production in Libya has returned to 1.2 MMBbl/d after the resumption of operations at the Sharara oil field
- Russia becomes China’s top oil supplier (BBG)
- For the first time since 2018, Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the leading supplier of oil to China
- China bought a record 2.15 MMBbl/d from Russia in 2023, according to customs data
- Refiners in China have been buying up cheaper Russian crude despite it being sold at levels above the G7 price cap, at an average of $77/Bbl
- Iraq and Malaysia were the third and fourth largest suppliers of oil to China, with crude and fuel from Iran often classified as coming from Southeast Asia
- Russian crude shipments impacted by storms and Baltic drone strike (BBG)
- Shipments of Russian oil fell to the lowest in nearly two months due to adverse weather and a Ukrainian drone strike at a key Baltic export terminal
- About 3.36 MMBbl/d were shipped from Russian ports in the four-week period leading up to January 21, down by 50 MBbl/d from the prior period
- US Gulf Coast refineries slow to recover from last week’s freeze (Bloomberg)
- Winter Storm Gerri impacted 15% of the US Gulf Coast's crude-processing capacity, with 1.4 MMBbl/d offline in PADD3 and 1.7 MMBbl/d across the US, down from 1.5 and 1.9 MMBbl/d respectively last week, according to Woodmac data
- TotalEnergies' Port Arthur refinery in Texas, with a capacity of 0.24 MMBbl/d, regained power on Jan 18 but remains idle after losing power on Jan 16
- The freeze's impact is compounded by routine winter-spring maintenance, with Motiva Enterprises' largest crude unit at their 0.63 MMBbl/d Port Arthur refinery, the 0.35 MMBbl/d CDU, shut since Jan 8
