- Oil prices slid about 1% on Wednesday morning as the API inventory report signaled an increase in crude stockpiles, and China takes measures to stabilize its power supplies
- China is looking at ways to intervene in the coal market to ensure reasonable prices, while the nation’s energy watchdog hosted a Tuesday meeting with refiners after oil prices soared (Bloomberg)
- The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a 3.29 MMBbl build in U.S. crude inventories. Government data is due later this morning.
- West Texas Intermediate has continued to firm up in a bullish backwardation structure as global demand rises
- The spread between the December 2021 and December 2022 contracts for WTI neared $10/Bbl, the widest since 2013
- The steeper the backwardation, the more disparity hedgers realize between prompt contracts versus longer-dated ones