Oil Futures Steady as Market Digests Demand Forecasts


   
Barani Krishnan
DTN Refined Fuels Market Reporter

   SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) -- Futures of fuel to oil steadied Friday (12/12) from 
the two-month lows of the previous session as traders digested forecasts for 
higher demand next year in a market still seen as oversupplied.

   Fresh U.S. sanctions against family members and business interests that 
serve Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro -- who has become the target of a 
maximum pressure campaign by the Trump administration -- added to the 
geopolitical risk in oil. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control 
announced Thursday (12/11) sanctions on three Maduro nephews, along with a 
businessman and six shipping companies and their assets. The U.S. seized 
earlier this week a Venezuelan supertanker laden with oil.

   Energy traders were also closely monitoring developments to the U.S. 
initiative to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr 
Zelenskiy said Thursday he might ask his country to vote on whether to cede its 
Donbas region to Russia. An end to the near four-year Ukraine conflict could 
pave the way for the removal of sanctions against Russian oil.

   On the supply front, the International Energy Agency (IEA) revised down its 
forecast for the 2026 global oil oversupply to 3.84 million bpd, from the 4.09 
million bpd it cited for November. The revision came as the agency acknowledged 
an improved macroeconomic outlook for next year, along with the impact to 
supply from sanctions on Russian and Venezuelan oil.

   The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners, 
meanwhile, kept its demand growth forecast for 2026 unchanged at 1.38 million 
bpd -- a target some 500,000 bpd higher than the IEA's.

   The NYMEX WTI futures contract for January delivery was down $0.04 at $57.56 
bbl, after falling to a two month-low of $57.04 on Thursday.

   ICE Brent for February shipment slid $0.08 bbl to $61.19 bbl, registering a 
two-month bottom at $60.79 in the prior session.

   Downstream, the RBOB futures contract for January delivery slipped $0.0023 
to $1.7575 gallon.

   ULSD futures for delivery in January dipped $0.0150 to $2.2134 gallon.




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