Showing posts with label OPEC quota compliance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OPEC quota compliance. Show all posts

Saturday, May 05, 2018

Oil to touch $300/bbl? Are you having a laugh Pierre?

You have to hand it to hedge fund managers. At the sight of the slightest uptick in crude prices, whether driven by geopolitics, OPEC's shenanigans or dare we say – actual supply and demand dynamics – hedge funds and money managers tend to pile in with long calls in the hope of extending the rally. 

However, when it's a case of all of the above market factors, some tend to get overexcited. Pierre Andurand, whose Andurand Capital Management is often bullish on oil and has been down on its luck for the first quarter of 2018 (according to Bloomberg), is certainly among the excitable creatures.

Earlier this week, in a succession of now deleted tweets, Andurand quipped that concerns over the rise of electric vehicles was keeping investment in upstream oil projects muted thereby extending their lead times over fears of peak demand. 

"So paradoxically these peak demand fears might bring the largest supply shock ever. If oil prices do not rise fast enough, $300 oil in a few years is not impossible," he added. 

Having grabbed the attention of the crude markets, the tweets, of course, were subsequently deleted with no explanation. The Oilholic has an explanation – perhaps rational thinking returned? 

Perhaps a realisation that OPEC's lowering of output has to end at some point? Or perhaps a realisation that the US rig count continues to rise in tandem with American barrels? Or even perhaps a realisation that much of oil demand – as the International Energy Agency notes – is driven by petrochemicals and aviation. In fact, even if one in every two cars is electric, oil demand would still rise. 

Anyway, why should rationality get in the way of a provocative tweet. Or make that a deleted provocative tweet. 

For the record, the Oilholic reiterates his average oil forecast range of $65-75/bbl for Brent for 2018, which is a tad higher than that of many fellow bears in the range of $60-70/bbl, given there still is plenty of oil in the market, and the crude mix of light and heavy is keep the global pool well supplied.

To provide, some content the Brent front month contract closed just shy of $75/bbl on Friday (see chart above, click to enlarge), still in its painfully dull range, albeit lurking near the highest level since November 2014. So only another $225 to stack up in a matter of years Pierre, if the bears get your bullish fever! That's all for the moment folks! Keep reading, keep it ‘crude’!

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Sunday, August 06, 2017

Platts July survey notes 32.82m bpd OPEC output

It seems S&P Global Platt's latest survey of OPEC production is suggesting the cartel's headline output came in at 32.82 million barrels per day (bpd) last month; the highest level so far into 2017.

As expected, its the two members exempt from its cuts of 1.8 million bpd - instituted on paper with 10 other non-OPEC crude producers - who have contributed to rise in production, Libya and Nigeria.

Libya's continued recovery saw the civil unrest ridden OPEC member produce 990,000 bpd in July, up 180,000 bpd from June. Nigeria averaged 1.81 million bpd, up 30,000 bpd on June.

The two exempt countries, along with increased output from Saudi Arabia, with its peak summer air conditioning season in full swing, have sent OPEC's collective output 920,000 bpd above its nominal ceiling of around 31.9 million bpd, when new member Equatorial Guinea is added in and suspended member Indonesia is subtracted. 

Saudi Arabia itself produced 10.05 million bpd in July, according to the survey. Overall, S&P Global Platt's notes that while collective compliance with the cut agreement is strong, "results among individual countries are still uneven."

For instance, OPEC's second largest member Iraq grew production slightly to 4.48 million bpd in July, remaining the "least compliant country" in terms of output above its quota, which is 4.35 million bpd.

Iran, OPEC's third largest producer, also had a slight increase in output to 3.82 million bpd, just above its quota of 3.80 million bpd under the deal, as its barrels in floating storage rose, according to the survey.

UAE oil production likewise rose in July to 2.89 million bpd, above its quota of 2.87 million bpd. Of course, the so-called OPEC/non-OPEC monitoring committee, composed of ministers from Kuwait, Russia, Algeria, Venezuela and Oman, which met in St Petersburg on July 25, has said it plans to enforce compliance much more tightly going forward.

Seeing is believing of course in these 'crude' times.That's all for the moment folks! Keep reading, keep it crude!

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© Gaurav Sharma 2017. Photo: OPEC logo on building's exterior © Gaurav Sharma 2015.