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RIYADH: Oil prices were down in Asian trade on Thursday as the US dollar strengthened on rate-hike expectations, and the recent US and Chinese economic data cast a gloom on expectations that demand will improve.
Brent crude futures lost $1.34 or 1.61 percent to trade at $81.78 a barrel at 11.15 a.m. Saudi time and West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped $1.27, or 1.60 percent, to $77.89.
Both benchmarks, declining for a second day after a 2 percent fall on Wednesday, are at their lowest since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced a surprise production cut on April 2.
Pakistan places first order for discounted Russian crude: Minister
Pakistan has placed its first order for discounted Russian crude oil under a new deal struck between Islamabad and Moscow, the country’s petroleum minister said, with one cargo to dock at Karachi port in May.
The deal will see Pakistan buy crude oil only, not refined oil, and imports are expected to reach 100,000 barrels per day if the first transaction goes through smoothly, Minister Musadik Malik told Reuters on Wednesday night.
“Our orders are in; we have placed that already,” he said.
US weekly refinery utilization data to run ‘abnormally high’: EIA
The US Energy Information Administration warned on Wednesday that its weekly refinery utilization calculations are likely to be inflated through June because they do not account for a major expansion at a Texas oil refinery.
The government’s energy statistics arm calculates refinery utilization as gross inputs divided by the latest reported monthly operable capacity.
While inputs are based on weekly surveys, capacity relies on a lagging monthly tally. The latest available is from January.
Financial markets and energy companies closely watch the utilization data as an indicator of future gasoline and diesel supplies.
The data mismatch stems from a recent Exxon Mobil Corp. expansion at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery, which added up to 250,000 bpd of processing capacity. However that capacity will only be recorded in EIA’s March monthly report, due at the end of May.
As a result, US Gulf Coast refinery utilization figures “may increase to abnormally high levels” for several weeks, the EIA said. The expansion also will be excluded from a midyear US report that measures refining capacity on Jan. 1, the EIA added.
The warning comes as the EIA has come under criticism for high adjustment figures in the weekly oil inventory data, which it uses to balance demand and supply.
(With input from Reuters)