Refinery output in China – the world’s second-largest crude user – rose 3.2% in March from a year earlier to 12.49 million barrels per day (bpd). Global supply has been tightened further by US sanctions on OPEC members Venezuela and Iran. “Buyers are shying away in view of US policy uncertainty regarding waivers to import Iranian crude oil,” BNP Paribas strategist Harry Tchilinguirian told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas company Gazprom, expects the global oil deal to end in the first half of the year, a company official said on Tuesday. Stockpiles fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended April 12 to 452.7 million barrels, data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed.

Source: The Express Tribune April 17, 2019 12:56 UTC