The United Arab Emirates indicated they have no plans to leave the OPEC+ alliance after a WSJ report that said Emirati officials are having an internal debate on the issue, following a series of clashes with Saudi Arabia. 

A string of oil events around the world has been providing a steady flow of sound bites about the prospects of 2023 demand, but there is still no indication that the current $80-$86 per barrel bandwidth for Brent oil is to undergo any changes, OilPrice reports. 

Chinese crude demand is still not where it was expected to be, the US might be in for a first stock build in 10 weeks, and Powell is set to testify before congress, all of which should amount to another week of choppy trading. US gasoline prices have already shown a slight uptick and are expected to grow further as refiners need to replace cheap butane with more expensive reformates to meet hot-weather vapor pressure requirements. 

The US downstream landscape remains hamstrung by widespread refinery maintenance that peaked in February at 1.5 million b/d of offline capacity, just as gasoline demand is set to pick up amidst the summer quality change. Most US refining majors aim to operate at 85-89% capacity this quarter, down from 94-97% in Q4 2022, as years of healthy margins forced them to postpone maintenance for as long as possible. US gasoline production has rebounded from its January lows and is now (9.7 million b/d) within touching distance of late 2022 levels, but this comes at the expense of diesel which remains 0.5 million b/d below December readings. 

Shelland QatarEnergy discovered another commercial oil play in Namibia’s offshore zone some 270 km from the coast, with the Jonker-1X well hitting a light oil deposit in water depths of 2,200m.Oil majors line up for Guyana licensing. As the Guyanese government is set to offer 14 offshore blocks in its upcoming licensing round next month, international oil majors such as Shell,Chevron,and Petrobrasare rumored to be bidding into it. 

/OilPrice/