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Growing Oil Glut Shows Investors There’s Nowhere to Go But Down
Speculators add record number of bearish WTI crude wagers Crude, gasoline supply at highest seasonal level in decades Money managers have never been more certain that oil prices will drop. They increased bets on falling crude by the most ever as stockpiles climbed to the highest seasonal levels in at least two decades, nudging prices toward a bear market. The excess supply hammered the second-quarter earnings of Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. Inventories are near the 97-year high reached in April as oil drillers boosted rigs for a fifth consecutive week. “The rise in supplies will add more downward pressure,” said Michael Corcelli, chief investment officer at Alexander Alternative Capital LLC, a Miami-based hedge fund. “It will be a long time before we can drain the excess.” Hedge funds pushed up their short position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 38,897 futures and options combined during the week […]
What’s Next For Oil – Could This Be The Start Of A Correction?
Oil prices are down roughly 20 percent from their high watermark for the year, reached in June, and the next steps could be dicey as a bear market forms. Crude inventories saw a surprise uptick last week, and gasoline stocks rose for the fifth time in six weeks. Sentiment has become bearish, and speculators have stepped up their short bets and sold off their net-long positions, signs that oil traders think oil has more room to fall. Oil prices are now at their lowest level in three months, and once again the month of July has been a huge disappointment for oil producers, many of whom had assumed that the rebound was underway. What is next for oil? Elevated inventories will take some time to be worked through, and oil production continues to exceed demand, although the magnitude of that surplus is up for debate. Goldman Sachs sees the […]
Islamic State attacks Iraqi oil and gas facilities
Kurdish military leaders confirmed to Arab media the Islamic State terror group was responsible for attacks on oil and gas installations in northern Iraq. Suicide bombers with the group calling itself the Islamic State attacked the Bai Hassan oil field, one of the largest in the region, leaving one person dead Sunday. Terrorists in a separate incident stormed the nearby AB2 gas compression station, leaving at least four people dead. “The Islamic State terror group struck the AB2 gas compressor station and were able to break in, leaving four employees dead,” Kamal Kirkuki, a commander with the Kurdish military forced called Peshmerga, told Asharq al-Awsat . “One police officer was also wounded.” The region is plagued by violence […]
Saudis Lower Oil Price to Asia Most in 10 Months in Sign of Glut
Arab Light crude to Asia cut by $1.30 to $1.10 discount Extra Light, Light pricing for U.S. clients also reduced Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter, lowered the pricing terms for Arab Light sold to Asia by the most in 10 months as refineries grapple with falling margins and oversupply. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. said Sunday it will sell cargoes of Arab Light in September at $1.10 a barrel below Asia’s regional benchmark. That is a pricing cut of $1.30 from August, the biggest drop since November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company was expected to lower the pricing by $1 a barrel, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of eight refiners and traders. Close all those tabs. Open this email. Get Bloomberg’s daily newsletter. Politics The latest political news, analysis, charts, and dispatches from the campaign trail. You will now receive
Plunging Oil Prices Create Bad-Loan Headache for Singapore Banks
DBS exposed to liquidation of oil-services firm Swiber Moody’s says energy lending is 5.3 percent of Singapore loans The plunge in oil prices is catching up with Singapore’s three largest banks. On Thursday, Swiber Holdings Ltd., a small Singapore company that provides construction services for international oil and gas projects, said it filed a petition to liquidate its operations, after facing payment demands from creditors at a time when its business was under pressure. DBS Group Holdings Ltd., one of the largest lenders to Swiber, said it only expects to recover about half of the S$700 million ($518 million) it loaned to the firm and its units. DBS and Singapore’s two other large banks, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd., are exposed to the downturn in the energy sector as a result of their lending to local companies which provide construction, shipping and maintenance services to the […]
