Iraq Only Pays Lip Service To OPEC Agreements

Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest producer, and its production in August was 4.88 million barrels per day, according to Platts, and 4.76 according to Reuters. Its production target is 4.512, and so it is producing around 220,000 b/d more than it had pledged.

OPEC
Source: Reuters

By contrast, Iran’s production has fallen by 1.6 million per day since the October 2016 base period, and Saudi Arabia cut its output by 920,000 b/d. Moreover, according to Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum, the largest private oil company in the region, it is “doubling down” on its investment in Iraq and intends to increase its production there. Continue reading "Iraq Only Pays Lip Service To OPEC Agreements"

OPEC's Unplanned Outages Supported Oil Prices

In early July, OPEC+ rolled-over its December 2018 agreement for another nine months ending March 2020. To get an idea of compliance with that agreement to-date, I compared changes in production from October 2018 (the base period) and June 2019, except for Russia, May 2019 due to a lack of data for June.

I found that OPEC delivered a cut of 2.46 million barrels per day, of 8%. That is more than three times its pledge of 800,000 b/d. The primary reason for such a large cut was sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

Iran reduced its reported output by 1.3 million barrels per day or 38%. Venezuela reduced its output by 600,000 b/d, or 46%. It’s important to understand that both of those cuts were involuntary.

The largest voluntary cut was by Saudi Arabia, 620,000 b/d, or 8%. Saudi Aramco (ARMCO) lifted its production by 200,000 b/d in June from May to 10.1 million barrels per day.

OPEC

Note: Russia’s change is until May 2019. Continue reading "OPEC's Unplanned Outages Supported Oil Prices"

Are You Waiting Crude Oil At $20?

Last month the crude oil futures hit the target much earlier than it was planned. When the target was reached, I started to think of a reversal to come as the overall structure of the chart implies it. This thought was based on the deep retracement of the price, the overall completion of the pullback, which hit the broken resistance, and not in the last place due to the 100% progress of the CD segment (CD=AB). I shared it with you along with the crucial downside triggers in the weekly chart of my earlier post.

Let’s see how you felt the market those days in the last ballot’s results below.

Crude Oil

You are just amazingly accurate in predicting the future! Again, the majority of you were absolutely right as crude oil futures established a new high of $66.60 beating the earlier top of $64.8 for almost two dollars. I am very grateful to all of you who read my posts here at INO.com and support my chart experiments with likes and votes.

Let’s move on as the weekly chart below shows that not only the new high was established. Continue reading "Are You Waiting Crude Oil At $20?"

Iran Sanctions And OPEC's Deliberations Have Failed To Lift Oil Prices

OPEC+ members met over the weekend to discuss the oil market and the possible actions they may take at the next OPEC meetings scheduled for June 25th and 26th. OPEC’s press release reported:

Following its 14th Meeting, which took place on 19 May 2019, in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving a balanced market and working towards oil market stability on a sustainable basis with solid fundamentals.”

After the meeting, ministers spoke with reporters. According to reporting by CNBC:

Saudi Arabia’s influential oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, warned that global crude stockpiles are rising, threatening to swamp the world in oil and cause prices to collapse. Overall, the market is in a delicate situation. On the one hand, there is a lot of concern — and we acknowledge it — about disruptions and sanctions and supply interruptions. But on the other hand, we see inventories rising. We see plentiful supply around the world, which means we think, all in all, we should be in a comfortable situation in the weeks and months to come.” Continue reading "Iran Sanctions And OPEC's Deliberations Have Failed To Lift Oil Prices"

US Stock Markets Could Rally Beyond Expectations

Late Sunday afternoon, President Trump surprised the global markets with the announcement of increased trade tariffs with China relating to the ongoing trade negotiations and delayed trade talks between the two global superpowers. The global markets reacted immediately upon the open Sunday night (Asian open). The VIX short position puts quite a bit of professional traders at risk of big losses today while those of us that were prepared for an increase in volatility and price rotation is poised for some incredible opportunities.

The US stock market is set up for a price move that will likely make many people very wealthy while frustrating many others over the next few months. We’ve recently posted many articles regarding the 2020 US Presidential election cycle and the fear cycle that comes from these major political events. In November 2016, we remember watching Gold rally $60 early in the election night, then fall $100 as news began reporting the surprise winner. There is so much capital, and future capital expectations that ride on these election cycles – it can actually drive the markets in one direction or another.

Right now, we have two things we want to alert you to regarding our proprietary Fibonacci price modeling utility. First, the current trend is Bullish and the chance of a downside price move is still valid. Remember, one of the primary price rules within Fibonacci price theory is that price must ALWAYS attempt to seek out new highs and new lows – at all times. This means that once price establishes new price highs, any failure to continue establishing new price highs, through standard price rotation, will result in its price attempting to establish new price lows. Continue reading "US Stock Markets Could Rally Beyond Expectations"