The Brent futures have been coming off overall throughout the day, reaching lows of $76.87/bbl at 13:00 GMT. The contract then retraced higher, trading at $78.14/bbl at 17:00 GMT (time of writing). Similar to Brent futures, Mar WTI futures also saw some sign of weakness reaching lows of $71.43/bbl at 13:00 GMT and trading at $72.41/bbl at 17:00 GMT.
Oil prices have been rather weak after the 2% gain last week prompted market participants to take profit.
Despite the EU exempting the country from the Russian oil embargo, Bulgaria plans on replacing Russian oil with Tunisian, Iraqi and Kazakh crude. Refining costs have risen, preventing the oil company Russian Lukoil from supplying its own foreign refinery. Coupled with a 60% taxation for refineries, Bulgaria’s largest refinery will have to find cheaper alternatives.
According to estimates from the North Dakota Pipeline Authority on Sunday, the state’s crude oil production has decreased by up to 280kbpd due to freezing temperatures sweeping through the Northern Hemisphere.
The front and 6-month Brent futures spreads are at $0.33/bbl and $1.54/bbl respectively.
