Best in Energy – 3 April 2023

OPEC⁺  announces pre-emptive production cut

OPEC⁺ cuts production as economic outlook deteriorates

OPEC⁺ surprises with cut after saying it would hold ($BBG)

OPEC⁺ cut shows revenue needs and U.S. divergence ($FT)

Europe’s marine insurers complain about sanctions ($FT)

Russia shifts oil sales benchmark from Brent to Dubai

India’s state-owned coal company boosts production

U.S. city planners reduce number of parking spaces ($WSJ)

EUROZONE manufacturers reported a fall in business activity in March for the ninth month running. The final reading for the purchasing managers’ index was 47.3 (17th percentile since 2006), little changed from the preliminary reading of 47.1 published just over a week earlier, and well below the 50-point threshold dividing expanding activity from a contraction. Energy prices have retreated from record highs in the third quarter of 2022 but remain far above the long-term average. Excess inventories continue to weigh on orders and production. Manufacturers now have to deal with increased fears about a recession and increased caution from household and business purchasers:

NORTHWEST EUROPE is now more than 90% of the way through the heating demand season. The accumulated number of heating degree days at Frankfurt in Germany (a proxy for the densely populated macro-region of Northwest Europe) in winter 2022/23 was just 1,621 on March 31 compared with a long-term average of 1,966 (-18%). Temperatures were above the long-term average on 124 out of 182 days between October 1 and March 31 compared with only 58 days at or below normal: