The Apr’25 Brent futures contract climbed to $76.40/bbl at 16:00 GMT, softened to $76.05/bbl at 16:20 GMT before climbing again to $76.40/bbl at 16:40 GMT. The crude futures contract again met resistance at this level and declined to $75.65/bbl at 17:40 GMT (time of writing). The EIA announced a 3.463mb build in US crude oil inventories (exp: +2.027mb) in the week ending 24 Jan alongside a 326kb build in Cushing stocks. US gasoline inventories saw a 2.957mb build (exp: +349kb), while distillate fuel oil saw a 4.994mb draw this week (exp: -2.154mb). In other news, the European Commission did not propose a ban on Russian LNG in its latest package of sanctions, reportedly due to concerns about securing alternative suppliers. In other news, Wall Street is reportedly bracing for a significant decline in Q4’24 profits from US oil refiners amid declining demand for fuel. Valero is set to kick start the Q4 US refiner earnings announcements on Thursday, 30 Jan. In macroeconomic news, the market will await the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and statement, due at 19:00 GMT. Finally, at the time of writing, the Apr/May’25 and Apr/Oct’25 Brent futures spreads stand at $0.80/bbl and $3.40/bbl, respectively.
