By Nirmal Bang
MARKET ROUNDUP
Crude futures rose almost 1 percent on Monday as cold weather, a weaker dollar and jitters over geopolitical risks combined to snap a three-session losing streak.
IN FOCUS
- U.S. heating demand this week is expected to be 11.5 percent above normal, the National Weather Service said. Heating oil demand was expected to average 7.6 percent above normal, the NWS said.
- On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped on fears that possible fallout from the euro zone's sovereign debt troubles might force banks to raise capital, diluting the holdings of existing share owners.
- The onshore division of government-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) expects to boost onshore crude capacity to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2017, a top official said on Monday. The unit will bring online first production of 225,000 bpd from this capacity boost in 2012, with the remaining 175,000 bpd set to come online by 2017, he said.
- U.S. crude oil imports were up 559,000 barrels per day at 8.43 million bpd. Domestic gasoline stockpiles posted a surprise drawdown of 1.3 million barrels to 228.1 million barrels, instead of a projected 1.3 million barrel gain forecast by analysts. While gasoline demand was down marginally on the week, refinery output of the motor fuel was off 52,000 bpd at 8.58 million bpd.
- Weekly throughput at Japanese refineries declined last week for the first time in five weeks, industry data showed on Wednesday as milder winter weather weakened heating fuel demand. Refinery production had been on the upturn after cold weather supported kerosene sales in the first half of January, but consumption has fallen since then as temperatures rose, providing a strong impetus for oil firms to trim runs.
FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK
Crude oil is trading a tad lower on NYMEX backed by some pessimism in golbal equity market. We expect crude oil to trade sideways to up in the latter part of the trading session. We have API crude inventory stocks to be released later in the night, any major draw in inventory will further support crude oil prices.
