- Oil heads for the biggest weekly loss since November amid talks of potential Gaza ceasefire
- March ’24 WTI loses 42c this morning to trade around $73.40/Bbl
- Crude finished lower by $2/Bbl yesterday amid reports of Israel agreeing to a ceasefire proposal, as reported by Al Jazeera
- However, Al Jazeera deleted the tweet later amid ongoing peace talks between Israel and Hamas
- Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Qatar presented Hamas with a proposal for a 45-day pause and the release of some Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages
- Furthermore, BP shut down its 0.44 MMBbl/d Whiting refinery following an unexpected power outage yesterday, with no estimated timeline to restart
- OPEC cuts start to kick in as the cartel looks to support oil prices (Bloomberg)
- OPEC and its allies curbed oil production by 0.49 MMBbl/d in January to avoid a global surplus and support prices, reducing output to 26.57 MMBbl/d
- Half of the OPEC production cut was from Iraq and Kuwait, with another 25% due to protests disrupting output in Libya
- While leaving the policy unchanged for now, OPEC+ is set decide in early March on whether to extend production cuts into the second quarter, with Riyadh indicating that extension is “absolutely” possible
