As the USA pushes for a ceasefire in the Middle East, Brent crude oil futures traded flat in early Asia session.

As of 12:00 Beijing time, the price of Brent crude oil December contract was $74.55 per barrel, up 10 cents from the settlement price on October 17th, and up 23 cents from the previous trading day at the end of the 17th.

New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil November contract price was $70.86 per barrel, up 19 cents from the settlement price on October 17th, and up 28 cents from the previous trading day at the end of the 17th.

President Biden calls for Israel to ceasefire in Gaza Strip, and reach an agreement on releasing hostages and detainees after the leader of the militant group Hamas in Gaza Strip, Sinwar, was killed.

Biden said he told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, "It is time to look forward" in order to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "This war needs to end, it's time to get these hostages home," said Biden. Netanyahu also called on Hamas to lay down their weapons and return hostages. "While this is not the end of the Gaza war, it is the beginning of the end," he said.

Both Hamas and Israel did not accept the terms of the agreement proposed by Biden in May and finalized in August, which called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel.

According to the report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), due to the decrease in net imports, US crude oil inventory decreased by 2.2 million barrels last week, despite reaching a new record high in production. As of the week ending on October 11th, US crude oil inventory fell to 0.4206 billion barrels, down from 0.4227 billion barrels the previous week. Compared to the same period last year, inventories increased by 0.802 million barrels.

The US sanctions list now includes a total of 333 oil tankers and other vessels, which are accused of assisting Iran's crude oil product and other commodity exports since 2019, including 99 oil tankers added by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control this year.

The United Kingdom government has also imposed sanctions on 18 Russian oil tankers and four liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation ships, describing it as the largest scale of restrictions imposed on Moscow's "shadow fleet" to date.

This brings the total number of Russian oil tankers sanctioned by the United Kingdom to 43. The UK defines shadow fleet as vessels engaged in illicit operations to circumvent sanctions, evade compliance with safety or environmental regulations, or avoid insurance costs.

The state-owned energy company, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), has signed a preliminary agreement under which it might increase its crude oil product supply to Rongsheng, but the specific details are not yet clear. CNOOC may choose to increase its supply in offshore domestic oil fields in China or boost its exports through the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline in Canada, which transports 0.59 million barrels per day.

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