The prospects of a global economic slowdown are beginning to hit oil demand
The much-awaited ministerial meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, in the expanded OPEC+, opted to increase its September output by just 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Despite the urgings of U.S. President Joe Biden to open Saudi Arabia’s crude oil taps during his visit there, the announced output…
Saudi Arabia isn’t ready to ditch Russia
After a brief lull and a price drop, crude oil markets are heating up again, surging by more than US$2 a barrel last week. The Aug. 3 expanded OPEC+ ministerial meeting, which includes Russia, is just around the corner. And signals from producing countries aren’t helping to stabilize the markets. In addition, the threat of…
An intense tug of war is being waged on the global crude horizon
Stakeholders continue to make interesting moves across the global energy chess board. Six days after U.S. President Joe Biden flew out of Saudi Arabia – without any public commitment from Riyadh to increase crude output significantly – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman spoke by phone, underlining the importance of…
Biden wanted more crude, Mohammed bin Salman needed recognition. The visit served both purposes
What did United States President Joe Biden gain from a trip that took him to Saudi Arabia, the state he once promised to make into the pariah he said it deserved to be? What did Biden get from meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he has avoided until now? In response to…
The driver of this bearish sentiment is an overly hawkish response by the Federal Reserve
Last week, the crude oil markets saw one of the most significant single-day price declines in history. Have the bulls retreated – perhaps for good? Tuesday’s oil price collapse could go down as one of the most memorable moments of the oil market’s tumultuous year, said Josh Owens in his piece for Oilprice.com. Although oil…
Analysts warn that prices could reach $380/barrel if existing penalties prompt Russia to make cuts
The crude oil world is in deep flux. Ongoing attempts by the G7 to put a price cap on Russian crude exports – almost an admission of its failure to curb the flow of petro-dollars to Moscow – also meant it needed to do more. But moving ahead with the proposal could result in global…
Bullish pressure on crude oil markets doesn’t seem to be easing
Crude oil prices fell last week, notching their second weekly decline in the face of concern that rising interest rates could push the global economy into recession. Yet the future of crude oil still seems bullish to many. Spare capacity, or lack of it, is just one of the reasons. The global surplus of crude…
The best bet remains to bring sanctioned Iranian oil back to the market
American gasoline prices have crossed the unprecedented US$5-a-gallon mark. American Automobile Association data shows prices at the pump are up roughly 60 per cent from a year ago. And prices in Canada are already more than $2 a litre. We are seeing new record prices around the world with each passing week. And no respite…
And we can blame political meddling
The crude oil world has inched into a crisis mode. The world faces a “much bigger” energy crisis than the one in the 1970s. Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told the German daily Der Spiegel in an interview last Tuesday. The IEA, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development…
And the U.S. is getting ready to cave in
With crude oil fortunes on an upswing, Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest crude producer – is playing its cards very well. The crude oil markets have been transformed, with prices starting in 2022 at US$75.69 and now trading at around US$115 a barrel. That’s a gain of just over 50 per cent so far…