Displaying items by tag: shale

Friday, 26 October 2018 12:11

We are Entering a New Era for Oil

(Houston)

The oil market has been in an interesting period since at least 2014. In the years prior, many had been worried about the concept of peak oil, or the idea that the world was past its peak output of oil and that supply would grow ever tighter. Then the shale boom happened and the world was suddenly floating in the stuff, causing prices to plummet. Now we are somewhere back in the middle as there are genuine concerns about supply at the same time as growing demand. Shale growth is slowing in the face of capital constraints and pipeline issues, and “The Saudis are just about out of spare capacity”, according to a top energy adviser.


FINSUM: We think the concerns over supply are legitimate enough that they will be supportive of prices even if we are slowly headed towards recession. That said, we think more supply will come to market to meet demand than many anticipate.

Published in Eq: Energy
Wednesday, 24 October 2018 09:41

Oil is Plunging

(Houston)

Stocks fell around 0.5% yesterday after being down much more. Oil fell 4%. The reasons why are many, but mostly it seemed to be bad timing. Saudi Arabia announced it would pump more oil at the same time as the market is worried about economic growth and aggregate demand. Invesco’s chief market strategist summarized the situation best, saying “Markets have underreacted to tariffs, because they weren’t really tangible. Now it’s getting more tangible with the IMF lowering growth forecasts and showing up in what could be seen as canaries in the coal mine … That’s putting downward pressure on stocks and on oil”.


FINSUM: We feel like oil is too high for where it should be right now. That said, the geopolitical risks surrounding Saudi Arabia could have a directly negative affect on gross oil supply, which would be positive for prices.

Published in Eq: Energy
Friday, 20 July 2018 10:00

A Very Bold Call on Oil

(Houston)

The oil market is in an odd place right now. Generally described as “tight”—when supply and demand are very close, prices have risen considerably over the last several months. That said, prices have fallen steeply over the last week or so on fears of falling demand and rising supply. That is what makes today’s call on oil so bold. Barron’s, citing a senior research analyst on the oil market, says that prices may rise from their current high $60s range all the way to more than $100 this year. The core of the argument is that supply increases are not enough to offset growing global demand.


FINSUM: We don’t see oil going that high, but it could resume its bullish run. The core idea for us is that the oil market has many ways to increase supply (e.g. using strategic oil reserves, loosening sanctions etc), so we don’t see prices rising that sharply.

Published in Comm: Precious
Wednesday, 18 July 2018 10:05

Oil is Diving

(Houston)

The oil market is continuing to experience some deep tremors after a great year. The oil benchmark dropped another 1% yesterday, bringing prices down to their lowest level in three months. After months of rising on concerns of weak output, the market is plunging on the threat of oversupply, especially from Russia and OPEC countries. Additionally, the IEA put out a report saying it saw global oil demand falling, another factor which weighed on the market. In addition to worries about rising supply and weakening Chinese GDP, Commerzbank commented that “The unexpected increase in U.S. crude oil stocks by 629,000 barrels reported by the API is generating headwind, as is a sharp rise in Russian oil production”.


FINSUM: It is starting to feel like the tide might really be turning on the oil market, which has had a great 18 months.

Published in Comm: Precious
Tuesday, 17 July 2018 09:23

Oil Might Be Headed for Another Plunge

(Houston)

The oil market has been doing very well for the last year and a half or so, and has performed especially strongly in 2018, outperforming every major asset class. However, US oil prices fell over 4% yesterday on growing fears of a boost in supply, following a 5% drop last Wednesday. Most of the gains in the market over the last 18 months have been because of coordinated supply cuts by world oil powers. However, while there still are some supply constraint issues on the table (e.g. US sanctions on Iran), the increasing worry is that production may rise more than expected, which would bring prices back down. Further, the US is indicating it may start to use some of its strategic oil reserves in order to avoid another sharp move higher in prices.


FINSUM: To be honest, we have been surprised by how well OPEC has been able to hold the output cut alliance together, so we really should not doubt their ability to continue to do so. That said, we do see at least a plateau coming in prices.

Published in Comm: Precious
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