April 2024: White Oil Prices Witness Stable Situation Across the US Market

Prices of White Oil (cosmetic grade) have continued their stable market situation across the US market entering the first week of April 2024, despite prices of Crude Oil witnessing an increment of approximately 4% during this timeframe.

A paramount reason for the stability in the prices of White Oil is due to the maintenance of an adequate gap between demand and supply which prevented the prices from fluctuating. During the previous week prices of Crude Oil have shown a modest variation which did not affect the prices of White Oil (cosmetic grade).  However notable changes were observed in the US Crude Oil inventories. The week ending March 29, 2024, saw an average of 15.9 million barrels of crude oil refined in U.S. refineries, a decrease of 35,000 barrels per day over the previous week. Last week, refineries ran at 88.6% of their maximum capacity. The average daily import of crude oil into the United States was 6.6 million barrels last week, down 85,000 barrels from the week before. Crude oil imports averaged 6.3 million barrels per day for the last four weeks, which is 0.9% greater than during the same time last year. The amount of commercial crude oil stored in the United States (apart from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) rose by 3.2 million barrels in the previous week. These developments however did not translate into the prices of White Oil during the week ending on April 5, 2024.

On the demand side demand for White Oil (cosmetic grade) for the product was recorded to be high as positive purchasing sentiments prevailed due to the ongoing Easter festival. Moreover, with the improvements in weather conditions, existing inventories of White Oil were under significant pressure as retail sales increased by almost 7% on a yearly basis. Also complementing the high demand for White Oil (cosmetic grade), was anomalous temperature reading as the majority of the US is expected to experience higher than average temperatures, especially in the parts of Central, Northeast, and the US East Coast, according to Climate Prediction Center (CPC).

Overall prices of White Oil are expected to increase as demand for the product is expected to last till the middle of April 2024. Moreover, increments in the prices of feedstock Crude Oil which rose to a five-month high, are also expected to complement the increments in the prices of White Oil. With uncertainties prevailing in the supplies of feedstock Crude Oil due to mounting geopolitical tensions and voluntary cuts introduced by OPEC+ member boards, (as Russia and Saudi Arabia aim to announce production cuts of approximately 2.2 million barrels by the end of 2nd quarter of 2024) followed by Iran (the third largest OPEC member) vowing to revenge against Israel, expectations of increments the prices of the White Oil further bolster.