Oil Prices Remain Rangebound Despite Rising Gasoline Demand

Oil prices have been trading rangebound for the fourth consecutive week, staying within the $81-83 per barrel range for Brent, as priced-in expectations of OPEC+ maintaining production curbs have failed to lift sentiment any higher. While improving consumption figures from the US and an increasingly bullish picture for hurricanes in the US Gulf Coast provide some medium-term hope for oil bulls, the macro outlook is still weak and the prospect of Fed interest rate cuts in June is getting slimmer.

The European Union approved a law this week to impose methane emission limits on Europe’s oil and gas imports from 2030, setting maximum methane intensity values on all fossil fuels that would trigger financial penalties, if flouted, OilPrice.com reports.

According to media reports, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) could launch a multi-billion-dollar share sale as soon as June, with the presumed offering aiming to generate some $10 billion for the state coffers.

The Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan is set to become the next addition to the list of countries developing nuclear energy, the first in the region, agreeing to build six smaller 55 MW reactors instead of the initial plan for 2.4 GW capacity.

The recent death of President Raisi notwithstanding, the Iranian government has approved a plan to increase oil production to 4 million b/d from the current target of 3.6 million b/d, however without providing a time frame for the capacity uptick.

As Mexico’s crude output dropped to a 40-year low of 1.47 million b/d last month, the country’s state oil firm Pemex has been struggling to repay service providers including drillers, with the NOC reporting $21.9 billion in pending payments in its Q1 results.

The net length held by hedge funds and other large speculators in Comex gold futures and options rose by a further 21,030 contracts in the week ending May 21, bringing the totals to the highest level since mid-April 2020 as gold boosts its safe-haven credentials.

US asset management giant BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) has encouraged London-based mining firm AngloAmerican (LON:AAL) to continue engaging in negotiations with BHP over its proposed 50 billion merger, with a final bid expected by May 29.

Europe’s energy majors Shell (LON:SHEL) and BP (NYSE:BP) have agreed to sell their 180,000 b/d Sapref refinery in Durban, out of operation since a 2022 flooding, to the South African government for a symbolic one rand.

Australia’s Queensland state government rejected a pilot CCS project developed by Glencore (LON:GLEN) in the Surat Basin, arguing that permanent storage of carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power station could impact groundwater resources.

Magda Chambriard, the newly anointed head of Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), has vowed to keep investor returns in mind after her predecessor Jean-Paul Prates was ousted amidst government pressure to spend on job creation.

Global Oil Terminals, a US oil trading company owned by Harry Sargeant III, has received a US Treasury waiver to continue importing Venezuelan asphalt to the United States and to interact with PDVSA over the next two years.

Trinidad and Tobago said it received bids from BP (NYSE:BP), Shell (LON:SHEL), and EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) as part of its 2023 shallow water licensing round, all bidding for the Modified UC block, with the winner to be announced soon.

The Congolese subsidiary of Africa-focused upstream firm Perenco discovered oil with its Moke-East exploration well off the coast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first offshore oil find there in almost three decades.