The market faces the prospect of years without sufficient flexibility or insulation from shocks during a period of extreme geopolitical stress. |
The market seems to have pushed far too far, far too fast and on the basis of far too little hard information. |
The maximum amount of oil product that can be managed into the U.S. is two million barrels a day, ... Logistically, it's quite challenging. |
The maximum amount of oil product that can be managed into the U.S. is two million barrels a day. Logistically, it's quite challenging. |
The most immediate concern remains Iraq, where the prospect of further severe political and economic setbacks appears to be increasing. |
The potential consequences don't even bear thinking about. There's such a concentration of refineries and chemical plants in a relatively small area that anything of that kind of intensity would be extremely nasty. |
The Russian statement is clearly bullish, as the market expectation of any support for OPEC from Russia has increased from its previous level of zero. |
The shortage is in gasoline, so you would need to add huge amounts of crude oil to have even a minor impact on prices. This is a time when the shortage has nothing to do with crude oil, and OPEC cannot fix it. |
The U.S. inventory situation remains extremely tight, with total inventories still falling and gaining no ground on the five-year average. |
There is just no slack, |
There is no instant turnaround. It could take five years, six years or seven years. |
We are in the middle of a fairly ferocious energy price spike. The spike could be checked by a move back towards normality in Venezuela, or by a release of U.S. strategic reserves. However, the application of either of these brakes does not look particularly imminent, and in their absence the upwards pressure is likely to continue. |
We believe that Iran matters more than is currently priced in, and that Iran's external relations remain the key wild card. |
We believe that Iran matters more than is currently priced in, and that Iran's external relations remain the key wild card. We continue to see Iran as representing a severe upside risk for prices this year. |
We believe that Iran matters more than is currently priced in, and that Iran's external relations remain the key wildcard. |