US oil inventories decreased
for the second week in a row

US oil inventories decreased for the second week in a row: Yesterday, Tuesday, May 25, the American Petroleum Institute
announced that crude oil inventories fell by 439,000 barrels for the week ending Friday, May 21.

Analysts had expected a decline of 1.050 million barrels during the week.

In the previous week, the institute recorded an increase in oil inventories
amounting to 620 thousand barrels, after analysts’ expectations for an increase of 1.680 million barrels.

Since the start of 2020, crude oil inventories have grown by more than 50 million barrels,
according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.

The decline in gasoline inventories

The API also announced a decline in gasoline inventories of 1.986 million barrels for the week
ending May 21, compared to a decline of 2.837 million barrels in the previous week.

Analysts had expected a decline of 775 thousand barrels this week.

Distillate stocks also witnessed a decrease in inventories amounting to 5.137 million barrels
during the week, after dropping last week by a rate of 2.581 million barrels.

Cushing inventories decreased this week by 1.153 million barrels.

Oil prices this week

Oil trading began with a slight drop in prices during trading on Tuesday, but after a few hours, it returned to levels where volatile movements in the market significantly impeded price movement.

At the time, WTI was trading at $ 66.15, up of $ 0.10 (+ 0.15%) after trading lower the day before the data release. Brent crude, the benchmark, rose $ 0.09 a barrel (+ 0.13%) and was trading at $ 68.55 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate crude rose almost $ 1 over the course of the week, while Brent rose only $ 0.15 on the week.

After the release of the data, WTI was trading at $ 65.83, while Brent crude was trading at $ 68.44 a barrel.

Weekly oil production rates

With crude oil inventories declining again this week, US oil production was again for the second consecutive week at an average of 11 million barrels per day for the week ending Friday, May 14, according to the latest data released by the Energy Information Administration.

Developments in the Iranian nuclear deal

After the increase in oil prices last week, due to the possibility of obstacles facing the renewal of the Iranian nuclear agreement,
which in turn will increase oil exports to Iran, the market became tense after that
due to the US Secretary of State’s saying that there are no indications that Iran is
ready to implement the nuclear commitments necessary to lift the sanctions,
but Despite all these annoyances, the sharp escalation in Iranian production and exports is unlikely
to disrupt the withdrawal from global oil inventories and on Monday morning,
it was announced that the Iranian monitoring agreement would be extended by one month.

Bloomberg News estimated yesterday that Iran may have 69 million barrels of oil
ready, waiting for tankers to travel to buyers when US sanctions on its crude oil exports are lifted.

Citibank also released estimates on Monday, suggesting that Iran has 65 million barrels of oil
stored at sea, in addition to 54 million barrels in the storage on land.

Indirect talks are still going on between the United States and Iran in Vienna since
last month about possible ways for the two countries to return to the Iran nuclear deal.

US President Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden has expressed his readiness to return to the nuclear
agreement if Iran returns to the full commitment concerning its nuclear activities.

Iran has said it will not start abiding by the nuclear deal until after the United States lifted sanctions on Tehran.

On Monday, Bloomberg quoted Citigroup as saying that in the event of an
agreement and the lifting of US sanctions on Iran, it will be able to put its oil production
up within 20 days in major export markets like India and China.

Developments in the US oil industry

The number of drilling rigs for oil and gas drilling in the United States increased by 5 rigs in the previous week, bringing the total number of drilling rigs to 453 rigs.

More than half of it was added in Texas.

As for this week, news circulated on Friday that the number of oil and gas exploration rigs
in the United States increased by 2, and this brings the number of drilling rigs to 455,
and with this increase is more than 100 rigs since the beginning of the year.

The total number of active drilling platforms has now reached 137, which is more than the same time last year.

The American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute’s assessment was released in the US for the week
ending May 14th at an average of 11 million barrels per day.

These assessments indicate that the daily production rate of the United States of oil will reach 11.04 million barrels
this year, after dropping from the highest production rates of 13.1 million barrels per day,
which were in February 2020, before the Coronavirus pandemic affected oil demand.

The total number of drilling rigs in Canada decreased this week by one platform,
and the number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in Canada now stands at 58 active platforms,
an increase of 37 rigs from last year.

As for the drilling rigs in the Permian Basin, it has been unchanged this week
with 231 rigs, as the total number of drilling rigs in the Permian is now 69 rigs over
what it was at this time last year, less than the level of the past two years.

The oil sector in India prepares for Cyclone Yaas

The largest Indian refineries and ports are preparing
for Cyclone Yaas, which is expected to arrive
near a port in eastern India early Wednesday, May 26, 2021.

The Indian Meteorological Department said the typhoon will
intensify into a “serious hurricane storm” in the coming hours and will make the landing
very close to Chandbali-Dhamra port on Wednesday morning.

 Heavy rains, storms, and tidal waves are expected to affect low-lying areas.

“The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is taking all precautionary
measures to mitigate the impact of cyclonic storm Yaas,” top refiner Indian Oil Corporation said on Tuesday.

Activities have been temporarily suspended at all project sites,
with workers pulled from the sites to ensure their safety.

All ships carrying refined petroleum products and crude oil have been reported
to depart from the hurricane’s path.

The company has taken precautionary measures at its refineries.

All supply vessels have been moved to the ONGC offshore drilling sites to safe locations.

The safety of the offshore rigs has also been confirmed, according to the company statement.

All tankers were also transferred to safe areas away from the cyclone’s path, and it was confirmed
that there was no crude oil tanker at one stable point in the course of the cyclone.

Cyclone Toktai

Yaas comes a week after Cyclone Toktai, which killed at least 19 people in India, and dozens
were lost after an ONGC vessel, which was transporting people for offshore drilling, was washed away
after the storm hit the coast of Mumbai on the western coast of India.

US oil inventories decreased