Author: johnkilduff

WTI experienced some good old fashioned expiration-day volatility, yesterday. It reminded us of the old days, when the NYMEX pit would churn and prices would lurch indiscriminately on the last day of a contract’s life, in thin volume with stories of those “being caught” abounding.… Read more

Despite the move by Libya to officially declare a force majeure on oil exports, yesterday, oil price fell and are down further, in overnight trading. There has been some incremental improvement with announced reopening of the 51,000 bpd Marsa Al Brega port.… Read more

Crude oil prices are marginally lower, this morning, but they are maintaining a fairly elevated level. Prices continue to be supported by the tumult in the Middle East, specifically Egypt and Libya. The violence in Egypt is just not letting up.… Read more

Crude oil prices ignored the sell-off in Treasury securities and stocks, buoyed by the deep concerns over the situation in Egypt. The death toll is startling, and more carnage is being readied for today, as thousands of Morsi supporters are marching through Cairo, at this writing.… Read more

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