Oil plunges again–what’s next?
Oil prices went into free fall today, continuing the bear market in the commodity. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 7.73% on the day to $55.30 a barrel. International benchmark Brent dropped 7.05% to $65.18 a barrel. Yesterday oil had rallied on news out of...
Oil moves higher today on Hurricane Michael, IEA supply warning
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.7% today to close at $74.81 a barrel. International benchmark Brent crude rose 1.23% to $84.94 a barrel. The International Energy Agency warned of what it termed a “risky situation; the oil markets are...
Watch out! Oil prices look to be running away from OPEC/Russia controlWatch out! Oil prices look to be running away from OPEC/Russia control
Russia and Saudi Arabia have opened the taps, pumping an extra 1 million barrels a day of oil, and the two countries are making a big show of saying that they could do even more. But the oil market doesn’t seem to care and oil prices keep climbing. As of 11:30...
So much for the oil rally–crude falls on supply AND demand worries
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed down 1.35% today (to $67.83 a barrel) and international benchmark Brent crude tumbled 2.32% to $72.49 on bad news from the supply side and worries about the demand side. On the supply side a report from the U.S Energy...The oil price that didn’t bark in the night
Sometimes it’s how the market doesn’t react that’s important. Today the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a surprising build in U.S. crude oil inventories of 5.8 million barrels for the week ended on July 13. This comes after a big...
Government via Twitter: What did the Saudi’s actually say about increasing oil production?
On Saturday President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that in a phone call with King Salman Saudi Arabia had agreed to increase oil production “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” in response to turmoil in Iran and Venezuela. The Saudi government has acknowledged that the...
Aggressive November 4 U.S. deadline on ending Iran oil exports threatens more oil market turmoil
Want to know how high oil can go? So do the oil markets, frankly. West Texas Intermediate closed today at $72.32 a barrel, up another 2.54%. The U.S. crude benchmark stood at $64.19 on June 15. That’s a gain of 12.7%. Lurking in the wings is a demand by the...
Oil soars on U.S. inventory report, supply fears
As of noon New York time today, U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate is up 3.30%. International benchmark Brent is ahead 2.41%. The climb follows on data from the Energy Information Administration showing a huge draw of 9.9 millions barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles...
Markets today “seem” to say North Korea summit more important than G7 explosion
At 2 p.m. New York time the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was up 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 0.22%. And the NASDAQ Composite index had inched higher by 0.27%. Which is surprising given that the Group of 7 meeting ended Saturday with...
Oil price decline resumes after informal OPEC meeting Saturday
Oil prices continued their decline ahead of a June 22 meeting of OPEC and other producers that will discuss raising production to avoid political action in consuming countries to lower oil prices. As of 1:15 p.m. in New York, U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate was...
Now it’s the Saudis talking about increasing oil production
Yesterday, Russia sent oil prices tumbling by saying that it might be time for OPEC and its allies (including Russia) to revisit current production cuts. Today, it’s Saudi Arabia. “I think in the near future there will be time to release supply,”...
Russia and Saudi Arabia signal intent to revisit production curbs; oil retreats from three-year high
The energy ministers from Russia and Saudi Arabia will discuss a potential relaxation of the global output cap agreed between OPEC and Moscow when they meet on June 22. That was enough today to end the rally in oil. West Texas Intermediate fell to $70.71, down...
Oil prices up again on inventories, Middle East fears, OPEC price goals
West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.16% today to $68.80 a barrel. Futures for May delivery moved over $68 a barrel for the first time in three years. Yesterday the American Petroleum Institute reported a 1.05 million barrel draw down in U.S. inventories. Today the...
Oil prices climb from Monday’s lows but supply worries damp recovery
The financial markets decided that a global trade war wasn’t quite upon us yet this morning. That let stocks and oil bounce back a tad. But it also gave oil traders room to start worrying about oil supply again–after they spent Monday worrying that a...
Projections for U.S. oil sale production call for faster, higher, longer
The executive director of the International Energy Agency today said that “explosive growth” in U.S. oil production from wells in shale geologies is likely to extend beyond 2018. As you might just imagine, an oil market that is struggling to believe that...
Saudis push OPEC to go for $70 a barrel
The goal was to cut production enough to reduce global oil inventories to their five-year average. The hope of the coalition of OPEC and Russia that reduction in production would get oil prices up to $60 a barrel. Now with that inventory reduction just about in place...
Inventories drop, oil prices kiss $70 a barrel
U.S. crude oil inventories fell by a surprising large 4.95 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced this morning. This took international benchmark Brent crude up as high as $70 a barrel during trading on Thursday before closing...
How much can Pioneer Natural Resources increase production?
When West Texas Intermediate crude was struggling to stay above $50 a barrel, the important issues for a U.S. oil shale producer such as Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) were How much of production in 2018 was hedged above $50 a barrel? and How quickly the company...
Oil continues to rally on day after OPEC extends production cuts
After climbing yesterday by 1.7% on news that OPEC and allies including Russia would extended their agreement to cut production through the end of the year, oil rallied again today. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed up 1.64% to $58.34 a barrel....
The great energy sector puzzle: Oil is up but oil stocks are down?
Let’s take a look beyond today’s drop in oil on jitters about Thursday’s OPEC meeting and that group’s decision on extending (or not) its cuts in production. Today West Texas Intermediate, the U.S.crude benchmark, is down 1.37% as of 1 :30 to...
OPEC raises global oil demand forecast–and its projection for U.S. shale production
I can’t resist: It’s the classic good news/bad news set up. Good news for oil prices: OPEC raised its forecast for global oil demand in 2021 by 2.3 million barrels a day above last year’s projection. It also raised its oil demand forecast in 2040 by...
Oil stumbles, banks retreat: So where’s the leader for the next rotation?
Oil prices fell today with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate falling 1.29% to $50.64 a barrel and international benchmark Brent crude down 1.11% to $56.31 a barrel. Oil prices were even lower in the early going with West Texas Intermediate touching $50.23 a...
Oil up on U.S. inventories and then down on export numbers
Oil started the day rallying on a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration for a draw down of 6 million barrels in U.S.crude inventories for the week ended September 29. And then oil fell on reports of a surge in U.S. oil experts large enough to raise...
OPEC meets Friday and oil market moves into “guessing” phase
Want to play along as the oil market tries to guess what OPEC will do at its Friday meeting? West Texas Intermediate moved down, slightly, to $49.56 a barrel, a 0.7% retreat, as of 3 p.m. New York time. International benchmark Brent moved 0.52% lower to $55.19 a...
Here we go again: Oil supply and demand “near” to balancing
If you think you’ve heard this before, you’re absolutely right. Nonetheless, oil rallied today on a forecast from the International Energy Agency that oil stockpiles in developed countries could hit or fall below their five-year average “very...
Trying to put a date and figure on the peak in U.S. oil production
How soon will U.S. oil production from wells in oil shale geologies peak? It’s the big question for U.S. oil producers and for a global oil market swimming in excess inventory. As long as U.S. oil production continues to increase all of OPEC’s production...
Higher production and lower capital spending–that’s the picture from U.S. oil shale producers
The earnings reports from U.S. oil shale producers are painting a very uniform picture so far: Production was up in the second quarter; capital spending budgets will be reduced for the remainder of 2017; and despite those capital spending cuts production is expected...
Oil’s big day as OPEC and U.S. oil shale both produce big news
U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate closed up 4.21% to $48.25 a barrel today, July 25. International benchmark Brent climbed 3.93% to $50.51 a barrel. Big moves. Exactly what you’d expect on a day when both OPEC and U.S. shale producers produced big news. On...
Oil market can’t decide what “facts” count
Sometimes a market will move in response to a new fact reaching traders and investors. Sometimes, though, a financial market will change direction because traders and investors choose to emphasize a different set of facts today than yesterday. And that’s where...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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