International Oil Assessment: U.S. Crude Oil Inventory Drops Unexpectedly, Brent Oil Breaks Through 51 U.S. Dollar Barrier

U.S. WTI crude oil futures rose 20 cents, or 0.42%, to $47.82/barrel, while Brent crude oil futures for February rose 32 cents, or 0.63%, to $51.08/barrel.

Recently, the data reported by EIA also unexpectedly exceeded expectations. As of December 11, crude oil inventory decreased by 3.1 million barrels to 500 million barrels in the week ended December 11, after the market expected to reduce 1.9 million barrels. Zero hedge, a leading financial blog, said analysts expected some pullback after last week's unexpected increase in crude oil production and a small decrease in crude oil inventories, although API reported a small increase in inventories. This expectation was confirmed after the EIA data were released. FGE analysts said that in view of the current trend of the new crown epidemic in the United States, in terms of demand, the biggest downward risk in the near future comes from the United States, mainly because of the continued weak demand for gasoline in the United States.

According to sources, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited other congressional leaders to meet at 4:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday to discuss the government spending plan and launch a new round of protest relief stimulus plan, trying to reach an agreement on this. Republican McConnell, Senate Democrat Schumer and House Republican McCarthy were invited to attend the meeting. McCarthy said Congress leaders' meeting on the relief of the epidemic has made "progress.". And he said optimistically, "we are making great progress and are getting closer to reaching an agreement. We will reach a consensus soon.". Negotiations on the stimulus package are still ongoing.

In the near future, Saudi Arabia will adhere to the plan of reducing expenditure by 7.3% in 2021. In the near future, Saudi Arabia has no ambition to substantially increase crude oil production. Previously, the budget deficit widened sharply due to the economic impact of the fall in oil prices and the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. Although OPEC and its allies can only gradually increase supply capacity at a very slow pace next year, it will still be a huge test for the fiscal revenue of oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia.