Oil commentary - 6 February 2023

Morning all. Monday and welcome to it. Who said North London football teams are rivals? I would like to thank them very much for yesterday. Anywayyyy, Brent is trading this morning at $80.19 up 0.25 and WTi is trading up 0.14 at $73.53. There is someone sitting there this morning, with a PhD in “Weather Balloons: The dangers of them and their potential catastrophic effects on diplomatic relations” saying “See Mum! I knew this would work out for me career wise!!”. Honestly, #balloongate is going mad, but if you zoom in on the pictures it’s actually an errant birthday balloon that says “Happy 50th Chris” on it. Anyway, let’s talk other matters that are, or were, up in the air - energy markets. Yesterday the EU ban on Russian oil products kicked in, whilst it’s too early to opine on what effects this will have on energy balances in the EU, it is certainly a matter that is being watched by all concerned. Jobs data in the USA on Friday was “monstrous” as one commentator put it, beating expectations by a “monstrous” 347,000, this however is a bit of a yeah, nah - whilst the number is encouraging for job growth, it also means Mr Powell will sit there with furrowed eyebrows and a dismissive wave of the head and continue his rate hikes. A grim end for all markets last week and Brent ended the week down 8%. Boooo. Still, markets this morning whilst not surging, are up nonetheless. We should start seeing some data trickle in soon on what lifting Covid restrictions in China have done for energy demand, me thinks it will look decent, but again, let’s wait and see. Good day and week to all.