- Oil is trading lower and heading for a weekly loss of nearly $2
- Prices have traded in a range between $78 and $80 this week, now closer to the bottom end of the range
- Russia’s compliance with OPEC+ cuts slipped last month (BBG)
- Russian crude output was about 82 MBbl/d higher than January levels, putting the country’s output at 406 MBbl/d below the February 2023 baseline after pledging to cut production by 500 MBbl/d below February 2023 levels
- Despite this, Russia’s cuts last month were the second deepest since the country began reducing output in March 2023 in response to Western sanctions
- While other OPEC+ countries are cutting production as well, Russia is the only one to have pledged a reduction in both crude and product output and exports
- China’s oil demand growth to slow down (BBG)
- The President of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said that an increase in EVs as well as trucks powered by LNG will replace about 10-12% of China’s gasoline and diesel demand this year
- Overall crude demand is still expected to grow as petrochemical demand is set to increase
- With China being the world's largest oil importer, a slowdown in demand growth could be a bearish factor for global crude prices
