Energy OverView May 18, 2015

WTI oil prices start the week above $60, and the news flow out of the Middle East is enough to justify the price action. ISIL forces have taken the city of Ramadi in Iraq, and all of Anbar province is jeopardy of falling. US Special Forces killed a leading ISIL figure over the weekend in Syria, in a rare ground action. The target was reported to be “the accountant” or finance head that was instrumental in the terror group’s oil sales, ISIL’s major source of funding. The Yemen ceasefire is tenuous and the Iranian navy is escorting an aid ship to Yemen, in, yet, another, confrontation.