WTI up 33-cents
WTI crude oil a spot to watch at the moment as it ticks up to $59.00. Brent is also up $1.16 to $69.84 and at the best levels of the day.
The rebounds today come after sharp declines last week but Brent in particular has now taken a good bite out of the drop.
The WSJ is out with a story today highlighting how Iranian oil buyers have 'vanished'. Citing a variety of sources they note that "China, India, Turkey, South Korea and Japan have ended all direct purchases of Iranian crude and condensates."
The story highlights how China is still talking with Iran about buying crude but purchases are being blocked by Beijing. That could change if the US-China trade war intensifies and that's a significant downside risk.
Another interesting point is how tanker tracking has evolved since the previous round of sanctions and that's limiting Iran's ability to skirt the sanctions to around 200,000 barrels per day, about 1m barrels less than previously.
Overall, I would be skeptical about extrapolating today's moves in oil to mean anything. Liquidity is thin and the moves could easily unwind tomorrow.
