Energy Update | Week of January 23

• WTI crude is up 40 cents on the day, while ULSD is up nearly 7 cents.  Last week Brent crude rose 2.8% while WTI was up 1.8%.  Natural gas and propane markets are down to start the week despite a forecast showing a likely cold trend moving across the U.S. until early February.
• Bullish sentiment is building around the Chinese re-opening providing a stronger outlook for demand.  Asian trading is slower now due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
• An EU ban on Russian crude imports in December will be broadened to include refined fuels starting February 5th and is expected to tighten supply from Russia.
• Crude inventories have increased by 30M bbls in the last four weeks, totaling nearly 13.3M bbls above the five-year average.  This surplus in crude has not been this high since April 2021.
• Propane prices remain down 1.5 cents on the day as reports of weaker export demand are being reported.  Propane finished last week on a fresh two-month high due to a weaker U.S. dollar and a smaller-than-expected inventory draw of 1.97M bbls.