Crude Oil Archives - Page 25 of 183 - INO.com Trader's Blog

Trump Tweets Create Opportunity for Investors

Posted on April 25, 2018April 25, 2018 by Matt Thalman

When Donald Trump goes to Twitter Inc. (TWTR) to voice his negative opinions, investors should begin trying to find opportunities. Over just the past few weeks we have seen two separate occasions in particular in which the President of the United States has directed negative tweets at specific industries or companies. In both cases, first with Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and more recently with The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), his tweets have sent asset prices lower for a short period, before they have recovered, opening up big opportunities for investors.

Amazon

The end of March, beginning of April, Donald Trump assaulted Amazon with some tweets. First, it was that the company paid little to no state and local government taxes and then it was that the e-commerce company was a ‘scam’ which costs the US Post Office and therefore the American people, billions of dollars a year. Another string of tweets pointed the finger at Amazon claiming it was the reason thousands of retailers were going out of business, and millions of US workers had been laid off.

The tweets from Trump sent Amazon shares lower each day he would reignite his attack on the e-commerce giant. A 1-month chart of Amazon shows how the stock fell during the Presidents attacks and has since recovered.

From Yahoo Finance

Despite the fact that the President attacked Amazon and no real solution has come from the issues he pointed out, Amazon’s recovery appears to be nearly complete. This is not to say that the problems with Amazon not paying taxes or its contract with the Post Office couldn’t be reignited again in the future. But as most analysts have noted, the Presidents threats and claims against Amazon have no real teeth. Continue reading "Trump Tweets Create Opportunity for Investors" →

Updated World Oil Forecast For April

Posted on April 14, 2018April 13, 2018 by Robert Boslego

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), world oil production will exceed demand for much of the balance of 2018, and therefore global OECD oil inventories are projected to rise. Specifically, the EIA estimates that OECD inventories bottomed at the end of March at 2.784 million barrels (mmb) and will rise by 80 mmb through year-end, up 26 mmb from December 2017. And its projections through 2019 show another net stock gain of 34 mmb to end the year at 2.898 mmb.

The DOE forecasts for 2018 and 2019 are based on dramatically different seasonal stock changes that occurred in 2017. OECD stocks fell by over 147 mmb from August through December, according to the latest estimates. But in 2018, it is predicting a net stock build over those same months.

In 2019, it is forecasting a build similar to 2018, but without a first-quarter draw. Continue reading "Updated World Oil Forecast For April" →

Analysis Of The EIA Crude Oil Statistics

Posted on April 4, 2018April 4, 2018 by Robert Boslego

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. petroleum inventories (excluding SPR) fell by 6.9 million barrels (mmb) last week. They stand about 52 mmb lower than the rising, rolling 5-year average and are about 149 mmb lower than a year ago. However, comparing total inventories to the pre-glut average (end-2014), stocks are 127 mmb above that average.

Commercial crude stocks fell by 2.6 mmb, and SPR stocks were unchanged last week. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.7 mmb, and distillate stocks fell 2.0 mmb. Primary demand dropped 256,000 b/d to average 20.675 million barrels per day (mmbd). Continue reading "Analysis Of The EIA Crude Oil Statistics" →

Updated 2018 Crude Oil Outlook

Posted on March 21, 2018March 21, 2018 by Robert Boslego

Analysis prepared on March 19, 2018

The relative rate of growth in supply v. demand will ultimately determine stock levels and prices. And the three key predicting agencies, the International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Information Administration (EIA), and OPEC have different views on what is likely to unfold.

OPEC does not often predict is own production, but in December it forecast it would average 33.2 million barrels per day (mmbd) during 2018. That would far exceed its projected “call on OPEC oil,” which is world demand minus non-OPEC production. For 2018 as a whole, it predicts that figure will be 33.1 mmbd.

That demand for OPEC oil is based on a gain in demand of 1.52 mmbd and a rise in no-OPEC production of 1.15 mmbd. In my view demand is likely to be a bit stronger due to world economic growth. However, the non-OPEC supply number is much too low, given the recent rise in U.S. production of 886,000 b/d from August through November. (December production was down a bit for seasonal reasons.) Furthermore, U.S. production has yet to respond to $60/b. The rise in output last autumn was a response to $50/b.

The EIA has the most aggressive non-OPEC production estimate of a gain of 2.5 mmbd, with 2.0 occurring in the U.S. alone, and the balance in Canada and Brazil. The EIA forecast is based on a gain in crude production of 1.5 mmbd and a rise in other liquids of 500,000 b/d. WTI did not exceed $60 in any month since 2015 until January 2018. And the year-over-year gain in March 2018 is estimated to be 1.29 mmbd. And so the industry’s response to $60/b could very well enable the 1.5 mmbd gain. Continue reading "Updated 2018 Crude Oil Outlook" →

2018: Supply/Demand Trends Can Make Or Break Oil Prices

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Robert Boslego

The crude oil price started the year off strong, as January posted the highest OPEC Reference Basket price ($66.85) since November 2014, the month in which the Saudis decided to wage an oil price war with American shale oil. But the market gave up its 2018 gain during the first week of January, as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) incorporated the huge November production surge into its short-term outlook and weekly time series data. To top it all off, Baker-Hughes reported the most significant one-week gain in its oil-directed drilling rig count.

Whether the market shifts back to bullish sentiment, or whether the bearish sentiment takes control this year, depends mainly on several key assumptions. The central hypothesis is how fast shale oil production will grow this year, and the second is what OPEC production will be, given the on-going risk to Venezuelan output. Based on U.S. production from August through November, the recent lagged response in drilling rigs, and the high prices experienced October through January; I expect that U.S. production will rise faster than either the DOE or OPEC assume in their forecasts.

EIA’s February Outlook

The EIA released its outlook, revising its U.S. crude production estimates much higher. For the year, it now expects crude production to average 10.59 million barrels per day (mmbd) in 2018, and to exit the year at 11.13 mmbd.

The EIA’s estimate of production for February is 10.260 mmbd. That figure is 1.07 mmbd higher than August. If anything, EIA’s 2018 prediction seems low. Continue reading "2018: Supply/Demand Trends Can Make Or Break Oil Prices" →

Tag: Crude Oil