---

By the Oil Desk at Freight Investor Services Ltd.

April Brent closed last night at $55.59 down 0.34 and WTI closed down 0.04 to $54.01. We want to talk about Donald Trump. The thing is, though some may mock this chap, he seems to be doing rather well. The US economy has grown, the "Trump effect" was only a positive one and he is running through his political manifest quicker than he goes through golf courses. There is an elephant in the room however - his energy policy. As we mentioned yesterday, the local derby that is OPEC vs shale I am sure will come in to play a lot more in the coming months, but one thing that can possibly disrupt it massively in OPEC's favour is if Trump deregulates current policy. There are a number of reasons we think this may happen - 1. Federal Land should be opened up that were previously closed by Barack and his boys; this will inevitably lead to increased oil production and lower domestic prices. 2. Renewable energy will literally be put on the back burner. 3. Rick Perry and Rex Tillerson - two heavyweight Stetson-wearing Texans - hold the office of Energy Secretary and Secretary of State respectively, and remember that Tillerson was the head honcho at Exxonmobil before taking office. 4. Love him or loathe him at the end of the day, Trump is (or was) a very successful business man. But what will this manifest itself into? Well, this is the billion dollar question isn't it. It is clear that Trump will look to embrace anything he needs to in order to "Make America Great Again". If globalization is being called in to question, then will the universal benchmark that is Brent, (and the price that every member of OPEC concentrates on) have a serious competitor on it's hands in the form of WTI? This is where we think things will get interesting. Food for thought at least. EIA stats later, so as always watch the post numbers. Good day.

Economic Data/Events: (London times)

* 12pm: U.S. MBA Mortgage Applications, Feb. 24 (prior -2%)

* 1:30pm: U.S. Personal Income, Jan., est. 0.3% (prior 0.3%)

* 2:45pm: Markit U.S. Manufacturing PMI Feb. Final, est. 54.5 (prior 54.3)

* 3pm: U.S. ISM Manufacturing, Feb., est. 56.2 (prior 56)

* 3:30pm: EIA U.S. weekly inventory report; TOPLive blog coverage begins 3:20pm

* Today:

* Genscape weekly ARA crude stockpiles report

* Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference, 2nd day of 3

* Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud visits Indonesia to meet President Jokowi, 1st day of 3

* Exxon Mobil analyst meeting, followed by press conference with CEO Darren Woods

* Bloomberg tanker-tracking estimates of February crude exports from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Nigeria to be published within next few days

* Earnings: Eni SpA

Singapore 380 cSt

Apr17 - 319.75 / 321.75

May17 - 319.25 / 321.25

Jun17 - 317.75 / 319.75

Jul17 - 316.25 / 318.25

Aug17 - 315.00 / 317.00

Sep17 - 313.75 / 315.75

Q2-17 - 318.75 / 320.75

Q3-17 - 314.75 / 316.75

Q4-17 - 311.25 / 313.75

Q1-18 - 308.75 / 311.25

CAL18 - 302.25 / 305.75

CAL19 - 287.00 / 292.00

Singapore 180 cSt

Apr17 - 325.25 / 327.25

May17 - 325.25 / 327.25

Jun17 - 324.00 / 326.00

Jul17 - 323.00 / 325.00

Aug17 - 322.00 / 324.00

Sep17 - 320.75 / 322.75

Q2-17 - 324.75 / 326.75

Q3-17 - 321.75 / 323.75

Q4-17 - 318.50 / 321.00

Q1-18 - 315.75 / 318.25

CAL18 - 310.00 / 313.50

CAL19 - 296.00 / 301.00

Rotterdam Barges

Apr17 303.00 / 305.00

May17 302.25 / 304.25

Jun17 301.50 / 303.50

Jul17 300.50 / 302.50

Aug17 299.50 / 301.50

Sep17 298.25 / 300.25

Q2-17 302.25 / 304.25

Q3-17 299.25 / 301.25

Q4-17 294.25 / 296.75

Q1-18 292.50 / 295.00

CAL18 288.00 / 291.50

CAL19 274.00 / 279.00

---

Founded in 2002, Freight Investor Services is a specialist in dry bulk and commodity derivatives, including cargo freight, iron ore, fertilizer and bunker fuel. The company has offices in London, Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai.

For further details about fuel oil swaps or to discuss trading opportunities, please contact Andrew Cullen, Client Relations & Development Manager, on +44 207 090 1126, or email AndrewC@freightinvestor.com.