Crude oil prices in the US and European markets fell due to the anticipation that the situation between Iran and the United States would calm down after the President of the United States stated that there were no casualties in the Iranian attack and showed no sign of escalating military action.
EIA reported that the US commercial crude oil reserves for the week ended Jan 3, 20, increased by 1.2 MMB while WoW was at 431.1 MMB.
Mr. Mohammed Barkindo, Secretary General of OPEC said the energy infrastructure in Iraq, the second largest crude oil producer in the OPEC group, was not affected by the unrest and able to continue the operation as normal. Meanwhile, the world has a spare capacity of 3.0-3.5 MMBD, mainly in Saudi Arabia.
It is time to keep an eye on the likely rising tensions in the Middle East after the announcement from the United Nations: UN on the results of the investigation of the attack on the Abqaiq crude oil improvement plant and the Khurais field in Saudi Arabia on Sept 14, 2019, which concluded that the Houthi in Yemen did not act as claimed. It turned out from the evidence that the Drones and Cruise Missile came from the north, and the weapons used to attack were too complex to be developed and produced by themselves in Yemen.
