Overview
- Brent hovered near $69.6 and WTI around $65.2 on Friday, leaving both benchmarks up more than 4% for the week after touching seven-week highs and then seeing light profit-taking.
- The EIA reported a surprise 607,000-barrel U.S. crude draw for the week ended Sept. 19, contrasting with expectations for a build and underscoring tightening signals also flagged by a larger API estimate.
- Ukraine’s stepped-up strikes on Russian energy facilities and a state of emergency near the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk added supply risk as Russia moved to partially ban diesel exports through year-end and extend its gasoline export ban.
- Traders are watching the planned restart of Kurdish pipeline exports to Turkey, which officials said could resume within about 48 hours and potentially add roughly 230,000 barrels per day to global supply.
- The Dallas Fed’s Q3 Energy Survey showed business activity at -6.5 and company outlook at -17.6, with many executives delaying capex due to higher costs and policy uncertainty and forecasting WTI near $63 at year-end.