The amazing scenes in Syria catch most of the eye this morning, which we touch upon below, and oil prices have responded with the normal twitch higher, but in rather quiet fashion for all ponder on what a new look Syria does for the world order.
Yesterday's sedate affair in price action from oil contracts is not quite a damning verdict on OPEC's decision to roll current cuts into April 2025, but it hails a period of reflection. Those that follow oil balances will be quick to point out that the market just became a little tighter, well at least for the first part of 2025. However, if the plan to then unwind the first of 2.2 million over the ensuing year and the balance beyond to two-years from now, the market has just been offered another reason to stow any thoughts of a sustained medium/long-term rally, given that the current state of the world remains in similar form
Yesterday's price reaction within the oil market was rather counterintuitive. The overnight API data suggested the US had over the previous week, which included Thanksgiving, built stock across the main categories, yet the market continued to show positive leanings. When the official EIA Inventory Report was unveiled, not only was the Gasoline build of 2.36mb much lower than the API 4.6mb, the headline Crude EIA reading was of a 5.07mb draw, whereas the API predicted a build of 1.2mb but curiously WTI and Brent gave away nearly all the gains of the day with products actually falling beyond the previous day's lows.
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