OIL: Mid-Day Oil Summary: Crude Falls

Oil prices are softer today amidst signs of increasing global trade friction, offsetting some of the gains yesterday on news of a US campaign to lower Iranian oil exports.  

• Brent APR 25 down 1.2% at 75.32$/bbl
• WTI MAR 25 down 1.1% at 71.89$/bbl
• Trump is expected to restore "maximum pressure" on Iran with a campaign "aimed at driving Iran's oil exports to zero", a US Official said cited by Reuters.
• Iranian and Russian oil flows showing signs of sanction-driven friction as oil stored at sea increases, Goldman Sachs says.
• Iranian production is expected to decline by 400k b/d this year, but tighter sanctions enforcement could result in a large drop of 1m b/d. This would push Brent into the high $80s by May, according to a Goldman Sachs analyst.
• ARA crude storage fell 3% in the week ended Jan. 31 to 44.6mbbls according to Genscape cited by Bloomberg.
• CPC mooring resumed oil loadings on Jan. 4 after planned works, according to Bloomberg headlines. 
• Norway’s Equinor has resumed production at its Johan Sverdrup field following a power disruption this week the company said.
• Goldman Sachs analysts said they do not expect U.S./China retaliatory tariffs to have a significant impact on energy prices.
• Production at Kazakhstan’s Tengiz surging, amidst Kazakhstan’s reaffirmation of commitment to OPEC+ quotas.