Although US crude oil inventories fell this week, Ice Brent crude futures fell slightly in early Asian trading.

As of 12:00 Beijing time, August Brent contract for ice near month was $85.56 per barrel, down 15 cents from the settlement price on June 20, and the contract settlement price on that day rose 64 cents from the previous trading day.

The near month August crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) was $81.15 a barrel, down 14 cents from the settlement price on June 20, and the contract settlement price on the day rose 58 cents from the previous trading day.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that US crude oil inventories fell 2.5 million barrels last week due to decreased imports and increased exports. As of the week of June 14, US crude oil inventories fell to 457.1 million barrels, down from 459.6 million barrels the previous week. Compared with the same period last year, inventories fell by 6.2 million barrels.

Inventory in the US Gulf Coast region fell by 4.4 million barrels to 262.3 million barrels, the largest decrease among EIA's five regions. Inventory in the central Kushih storage center in Oklahoma increased by 307,000 barrels to 34.1 million barrels, down 7.9 million barrels from the same week in 2023.

The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) increased crude oil inventories by 386,000 barrels to 370.9 million barrels. SPR inventories are not included in EIA's overall commercial crude oil inventory data.

As the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Alberto caused heavy rain and flash floods in northeastern Mexico after landing. It is expected that rainfall will ease throughout southern Texas, and the surge from Alberto could affect the Texas coast and northeastern Mexico until June 21. So far, the storm has not caused disruptions to offshore oil and gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico.

The Canadian company Trans Mountain plans to adjust the specifications of its Trans Mountain expansion (TMX) crude oil pipeline with a capacity of 5.9 million barrels per day to lower steam pressure and the total acid number (TAN) upper limit to better connect with other export pipelines and meet the needs of shippers and other market participants.

Petrobras' floating production, storage, and unloading unit (FPSO), Maria Quiteria, will begin production in the fourth quarter, ahead of schedule. The FPSO can handle 100,000 barrels of crude oil and 5 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, originally planned to start production next year. It left China in May and is expected to arrive in Brazil in the third quarter.

The Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged at 5.25% for the seventh consecutive time, after raising them continuously from the previous long-term low point of 0.1% since December 2021. The committee will meet again on August 1, just over a month after the UK general election on July 4.

(The above content is from Argus, an independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency)