• Brent this morning is trading at $53 per barrel, i.e. only marginally above the six-week low it recorded at the beginning of the week. 
  
  
• In other words, the "gains" generated by the contract rollover are already evaporated. The WTI price fell overnight to a new six-year low of $42.4 per barrel. 
  
  
• A renewed massive rise in US crude oil stocks is weighing on prices: according to the API, the US oil industry association, last week saw an inventory build of 10.5 million barrels, while stocks at Cushing increased by a further 3 million barrels. 
  
  
• The surge in crude oil stocks was attributable above all to higher imports. As such, there are also upside risks for the official inventory data to be published by the US Department of Energy today. After all, the market had anticipated an inventory build of "a mere" 4 million barrels. Oil prices are therefore likely to remain under pressure for the time being. 
  
  
• The incumbent Prime Minister Netanyahu emerged as the winner in yesterday's parliamentary elections in Israel. This could make it more difficult for any agreement to be reached in the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, as Netanyahu vehemently rejects any easing of sanctions against Iran and could accordingly bring influence to bear on the US. 
  
  
• A solution to the nuclear dispute is supposed to be found by the end of the month. If sanctions were to be lifted, up to 1 million barrels per day of additional oil could reach the world market from Iran in the second half of the year. In this case the oil market would also remain oversupplied in the second six months of the year, making it considerably more difficult for prices to recover.