Brent lost 0.98% to $80.80pb today. The fall in price is driven by a larger-than-expected jump in U.S. crude inventories, as announced by the International Energy Agency on Thursday. U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.81% to 439.5 million barrels, and the uptick is buoyed by a further decrease in refinery operations and softer demand for petroleum products.
Still, we expect the price of crude oil to remain volatile in the coming weeks as Middle-Eastern tensions persist amid global supply tightness.
Even though the Dangote refinery has commenced production of Diesel (Automotive Gas Oil – AGO), ironically, the price of diesel has surged by 17.26% in one month to N1,325/litre from N1,126.69/litre. This was mainly due to hoarding and product diversion by middle men. But as production continues, we anticipate that the price of diesel will start declining in March/April 2024.
