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Saudi Arabia once again has oil traders hanging on every word
Central bankers have long understood that a few well-placed words can wield nearly as much power as pulling the actual levers of monetary policy. It is a lesson that Opec and Saudi Arabia has started to heed. Just a few short sentences from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih last week sent hedge funds scrambling to cover large bets against the oil price, subsequently propelling Brent crude 10 per cent higher and largely silencing fears the market was on the cusp of another rout.
Following calls from Venezuela for big producers to revisit the idea of freezing output, Mr Falih said the kingdom was willing to “discuss any possible action” needed “to stabilise” prices when Opec ministers gather informally at a conference next month. For those that had written off Opec and Saudi Arabia’s position as “the central bank of oil” the market’s reaction was notable. Most long-term Opec watchers expect no official agreement to emerge from the Algeria gathering, even as oil-dependent economies struggle under the weight of a two-year price collapse. Still, prices shot higher at the mere threat of action. “A lot of traders appear to hold the view that eventually there’s going to be so much pain among Opec that they’ll have to do something,” says Jamie Webster of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “I don’t see anything to make me think
Most long-term Opec watchers expect no official agreement to emerge from the Algeria gathering, even as oil-dependent economies struggle under the weight of a two-year price collapse. Still, prices shot higher at the mere threat of action. “A lot of traders appear to hold the view that eventually there’s going to be so much pain among Opec that they’ll have to do something,” says Jamie Webster of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “I don’t see anything to make me think outcome is going to be different this time.”
Venezuela Oil Exports Seen Falling as Economic Woes Worsen
Nation seeing steep crude-output drop: Columbia University Risk to international oilexports from the country is growing The long decline in Venezuela’s oil production is becoming a supply risk for international markets, according to a report by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Exports from the holder of the world’s largest crude reserves fell more than 300,000 barrels a day in June, compared with the 2015 average, according to the report written by Luisa Palacios, a senior managing director at Medley Global Advisors LLC. While Venezuela’s output has been declining all year, the impact is only now being felt on international markets because previous losses were offset by slumping domestic oil demand amid an unprecedented economic recession . “Venezuela will represent a growing supply risk for oil markets in 2017,” the report said. “While on average crude oil exports in the first half do not yet show an […]
Why An OPEC Production Cap is Unlikely
North Sea Oil Global oil markets have become volatile once more as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced on August 8 that they will hold informal talks during the September meeting of the International Energy Forum in Algeria. Initial speculation centered on recent moves by cartel members including Kuwait, Venezuela, and Ecuador to re-impose caps on output to force a rise in prices. Acting on this suspicion, Brent crude prices spiked to over $45 per barrel before beginning to settle back. This initial reaction to the announcement of the September OPEC meeting is premature, however. There are several reasons why it is unlikely any action will be taken by OPEC at the meeting to restrain output. Nevertheless, continued speculation prior to the meeting in late September will likely hold oil prices above $40 per barrel for now. 1. U.S. production higher than expected On Wednesday, the U.S. […]
Vietnam’s July coal imports surge 141% on year to 1.31 million mt
Vietnam’s coal imports surged 141% year on year to 1.31 million mt in July, customs data released Monday showed. Traditionally a coal exporter, Vietnam turned into an importer amid rising domestic demand, particularly from the power sector. Australia was the largest supplier in July at 463,131 mt, compared with 112,092 mt a year earlier; followed by Russia with 410,449 mt, up 168%; and Indonesia with 172,099 mt, up 37.1% year on year. In the first seven months, Vietnam imported 8.38 million mt of coal, compared with just 2.72 million mt a year ago, the data showed. Article Continues below… Platts Coal Trader International is the only daily publication where you can access Platts proprietary price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets, including FOB Newcastle 5,500 NAR; CFR South China 5,500 NAR; and FOB Kalimantan 5,900 GAR. Every Friday, CTI includes a weekly biomass supplement containing […]
Renewable Energy Storage Could Be Worth $90 Billion Per Year
Renewable energy technology has been split into two camps since it became a reality around the turn of the century. On the one hand there are the passionate environmental believers for whom the inflated subsidies were an irrelevance in the face of saving our planet, and on the other were naysayers for whom the arguments about global warming were a plot by the far left to raise taxes or run some kind of tree-hugging environmental agenda at the expense of business and consumers. Neither polarized position was fair, of course, and the quiet majority in the middle have watched the technologies become progressively more efficient and costs fall dramatically while the extremes of global warming horror stories have been discredited, but the hard science of gradually rising carbon levels has been widely accepted. Who Cares Why The Temperature is Rising? In the process, a wider acceptance has gained ground […]
