Tag Archive for: uscrude

supply concerns

Supply concerns and demand optimism are boosting oil prices

Oil prices surged this week as hurricane season began, demand improved, and both U.S. crude and gasoline inventories fell. This triggers supply concerns. Rising geopolitical risk around the world only added to bullish sentiment.

Friday, June 21, 2024

The onset of hurricane season in the US is improving demand figures. It is corroborated by shrinking crude and product inventories. It is becoming more visible Chinese buying have come together to lift oil prices to their highest since early May. The market was also reminded of the dysfunctional Red Sea navigation with the Houthis sinking another bulker this week, adding upward pressure to oil prices.

Chevron-Hess Merger Stalled by Arbitrage Delays.

Three months have passed since the case for a contract arbitration panel on Chevron’s planned takeover of Hess’ Guyana assets was filed. Still, there is no final arbitrator selected, delaying the $53 billion merger.

Alberto Becomes the New Scare for the Gulf. 

A storm system has made landfall in Mexico’s northeast regions. It is becoming the first named tropical storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, with Tropical Storm Alberto bringing heavy rains that disrupted lightering operations in Corpus Christi and Beaumont.

Here Comes the New PE-Backed Gas Giant.

US private equity giant Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) will form a new Mediterranean-focused oil and gas company after purchasing Energean’s (LON:ENOG) assets in Italy, Croatia, and Egypt for $945 million, naming former BP boss Tony Hayward as its new CEO.

Europe Approves 14th Russia Sanctions Package.

The European Union approved a 14th package of sanctions against Russia that bans re-exports of Russian LNG in the EU, however steering clear of banning LNG imports per se, whilst also blocking any financing for Russia’s planned Arctic and Baltic LNG terminals.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Oil Price

—

Do you have any questions or thoughts about the topic related to supply concerns? Feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.

Last week, US crude inventories posted an unexpected rise, with the API reporting a build of 4.91 million barrels.

Oil demand likely to surprise to the upside

Oil prices have recorded the biggest weekly decline in three months thanks in large part to challenging economic indicators and growing demand concerns. Last week, U.S. crude inventories posted an unexpected rise, with the American Petroleum Institute (API) reporting a build of 4.91 million barrels, a sharp contrast from the anticipated decrease of 1.1 million barrels. This build has come after reports that U.S. crude production surged to 13.15 million barrels per day in February, up from 12.58 million barrels in January, suggesting supply is outpacing demand.

But it’s not just bearish crude oil metrics driving the oil price decline. The EIA has provided an initial estimate that U.S. gasoline demand declined 4.4% Y/Y in April, a negative sign for oil bulls that has triggered a rapid pivot by speculative funds towards the short side of the market. However, commodity analysts at Standard Chartered have argued that the demand pessimism is overblown. According to StanChart, there appears to be a systemic downwards bias in the weekly estimates of U.S. fuel demand, with actual gasoline demand exceeding estimates in 22 of the past 24 months, while distillate demand (mainly diesel) has been revised higher in all of the past 24 months. The analysts point out that last September, the EIA put gasoline demand at 8.014 million barrels per day (mb/d), a stark contrast from the 9.465 mb/d recorded for in September 2022. Across the whole month, the EIA data implied a y/y demand drop of 5.6%, eliciting talks of demand destruction with some experts contending that demand was at its weakest since 1999. However, it later turned out that actual gasoline demand only fell 0.4% Y/Y, far milder than the EIA estimate of a 5.6% decline. StanChart believes the EIA’s estimate for April gasoline demand is too low with actual demand likely to be surprise to the upside.

Click here to read the full article
Source: Oil & Gas 360

—

If you have any questions or thoughts about the topic, feel free to contact us here or leave a comment below.