Month: August 2013

Crude oil prices are higher this morning, building on a reversal from yesterday’s lows, after the release of the weekly inventory data. The MENA region is, once again, dominating the calculus. The move by the Egyptian military to break up the protestor camps has raised the concerns over the stability of the entire region, especially with the war in Syria continuing on.… Read more

Crude oil futures rallied, in a sizeable way, on Friday. Once again, on Friday and again this morning, production outages are lending support to the bull case. The most recent data series out of China is also contributing to the strength.… Read more

Yesterday saw an appreciable swing in prices. The inventory report was initially thought to be ultra-bearish, but quickly became merely bearish. The EIA reported a 96 bcf injection into storage, but 14 bcf of it was a reclassification of gas from base gas to working gas.… Read more

Crude oil fell, yesterday, along with most asset classes. The primary driver, late in the day, were comments on the wires from the Cleveland Fed President, who basically asserted that a September start to the tapering of asset purchases by the Fed was likely, due to much stronger employment growth than she had forecasted.… Read more

Crude oil prices are likely to get support from the inventory report, later today. Last night, the API reported further drawdowns in US crude oil inventories of 3.7 mb overall and another 2.2 mb at Cushing. So, despite the surge in domestic production, refiners are running hard, producing large amounts of refined fuels for… the outside world!… Read more

The details about latest threat from Al Qaeda continue to emerge. According to reports, the head of Al Qaeda in Pakistan urged the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to “do something big.” The oil market has had a muted reaction to the threat.… Read more

Crude oil fell back on Friday, taking a hit from the mediocre jobs report. There was late word, Friday, as well, that Libyan oil production would rebound on progress being made with striking workers. This morning, Libya’s oil minister has confirmed the rebound, saying that output will be back up to 800k within days.… Read more

Geopolitical tumult struck at the heart of the recent sell-off, yesterday, on news of increasing strife in Libya that has affected oil shipments again. At one point, the unsteady reporting had all oil shipments cut-off, but this morning we learn that at least two port facilities are operating.… Read more