Mid-Week Review – September 15, 2021

Oil prices climb after drawdown in U.S. stocks

Oil prices climbed $1 on Wednesday after industry data showed a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories and on expectations demand will rise as vaccination roll-outs widen. Brent oil rose $1.08, or 1.5%, to $74.68 a barrel by 1226 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed $1.12, or 1.6%, to $71.58 a barrel. U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate stocks fell last week, two market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures, after Hurricane Ida shut numerous refineries and offshore drilling production. Click Here to read more from Reuters.

China’s Oil Sale Is A Clear Message To OPEC+

China made headlines last week with the news that it was going to release some crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserve and sell it in a move that Bloomberg called “an unprecedented intervention.” Indeed, this was the first time China announced the sale of oil from its strategic reserve. The size of this reserve is unknown as the government never releases that data, but analysts have been using satellite imaging to estimate just how much oil China has in storage. Click Here to read more from Oil Price.

Nicholas brings flooding threat to Texas and Louisiana

Tropical Storm Nicholas slowed over Houston on Tuesday after crashing into the Texas Gulf Coast as a category 1 hurricane and knocking out power to more than half a million residents. The National Hurricane Center said the storm could still produce “life-threatening flash floods” across the Deep South in the coming days. Nicholas, the 14th named storm of this year’s hurricane season, dumped more than nine inches of rain in Houston — and some areas could end up with more than twice that amount. More than six million people are under flash flood alerts from southeast Texas to the Florida Panhandle. Click Here to read more from CBS News.

Colonial Pipeline shuts main Line 1 and 2 on Nicholas-related Houston power outage

Colonial Pipeline has resumed operations on its Line 1 refined products pipeline, while Line 2 remains down because of power outages caused by Hurricane Nicholas, the company said Sept. 14. Lines 3 and 4 are operating normally, the company said. Colonial Pipeline is a major supplier of refined products for the East Coast, carrying 1.5 million b/d of gasoline products from Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina, on Line 1 and 885,000 b/d of refined products on Line 2 from Greensboro, North Carolina, into New York Harbor. Click Here to read more from S&P Global Platts.