Before the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases its weekly US Crude Oil inventory report, Brent Crude Oil futures rose during early morning trading in Asia.

As of 12:00 PM Beijing time, the price of the Block Orders contract for Brent Crude Oil on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is $72.59 per barrel, an increase of $40 from the settlement price on December 10, when the contract closed up $5 from the previous trading day.

The NYMEX Crude Oil Block Orders contract price was $69 per yuan, up $41 compared to the settlement price on December 10, when the contract closing price increased by $22 from the previous trading day.

Market participants are waiting for the weekly US Crude Oil inventory data released by the EIA. The agency's last report indicated that for the week ending November 29, US Crude Oil inventories decreased by 5.1 million barrels, as seasonal high refining rates outpaced new production records.

Meanwhile, oil analysis company AlphaBBL reported that for the week ending December 6, Crude Oil inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma fell to the lowest level since October 2023, while inventories at major terminals in Texas increased.

On December 10, oil prices rose due to expectations that China would implement more relaxed MMF policies, but the increase may be limited as it is expected that Crude Oil prices will be lower than previously forecasted in 2025. The EIA stated that Crude Oil prices in 2025 would be lower than prior forecasts, with the US light sweet low sulfur Crude Oil benchmark price expected to average below $70 per barrel throughout the year.

The EIA indicated in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on December 10 that the average price of WTI crude oil in the Cushing region is expected to be $69.12 per barrel in 2025, down $2.48 from the November forecast. This marks the fifth consecutive downward adjustment of next year's WTI price forecast by the EIA and is the lowest forecast since the first 2025 prediction was released in January.

In terms of supply, Argus estimates that the OPEC+ member countries subject to targeted restrictions increased their collective crude oil production by 0.15 million barrels per day in November, marking the first monthly production increase for the alliance since March. Last month's production rose to 33.55 million barrels per day, but still remained 3.97 million barrels per day lower than the production level when the current round of cuts was announced in October 2022, and also 0.3 million barrels per day below the organization's collective production target for this month.

(The above content comes from the latest views of the independent international energy and commodity price assessment agency Argus.)