The perilous freefall of oil prices during the last several months has been a stark reminder that uncertainty and volatility are relentless forces in the energy and commodities markets. During such times, information can be our closest ally. But to be valuable, that information must of course be timely, relevant, and accurate. As such, an […]
In Part 1 of this blog, I discussed the aftermath of falling crude oil prices on the North American crude derivatives (RBOB gasoline and heating oil). Apart from the obvious conclusion that the decline of WTI and Brent was mirrored by the North American distillate benchmarks, I also showed that Brent crude oil plays a […]
The recent string of rebel takeovers in Iraq has affected not only the safety of its people but global energy markets as well. The last week of June 2014 marked a significant date for Brent-WTI spread pricing, as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) rebels took over Iraq’s largest oil refinery, Baiji. […]
The oil pricing landscape is facing critical changes as regional activities surrounding established benchmarks are impacting markets on a global scale. Asia’s lower-than-anticipated appetite for crude oil, coupled with the misconception that all production will be dominated by the Middle East, suggests a potential re-emergence of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) as the international price reference.1 […]
Since energy products are the backbone of the economy and are widely used by all sectors, the general belief is that a rise in energy commodity prices in translates to an increase in the price of non-energy commodities, such as metals and agricultural products. To assess the validity of this common belief, we’ll review two […]
Energy economist Phil Verleger has been waging a steady war against the argument that “too much” trading of energy futures contributes to higher prices. To the contrary, as he has written many times, in the long run it will contribute to lower prices, and current government efforts to curb speculation by diminishing volume is laying […]
The fiscal cliff in the United States was the hot topic surrounding domestic economic policy throughout 2012, as my colleague Ian Mathieson discussed in his year in review last December. It is safe to say that the same was true for this year as well. The global markets were once again on their toes observing […]
After eight years in the works, a sod-turning ceremony was held September 13, 2013 to celebrate the beginning of a new project that will result in a $5.7 billion refinery in Redwater, Alberta (about 50 km north of Edmonton) (The Globe and Mail). The Sturgeon Refinery is the first large-scale refinery to be built in […]
In the BusinessWeek article, “The Giant Sucking Sound: Why is Oil leaving Cushing’s Tanks So Fast?” , Matthew Philips takes a look at why a “historic glut of crude that built up in Cushing over the past three years” has dropped 40% (to 34 million barrels from 50 million barrels) at the close of August […]
“Welcome to the new world,” was the response of Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to the recent computer attacks on the New York Times and Associated Press Twitter accounts. The current warfare situation is indeed new: the recently published U.S. Government Assessment of the Syrian Government’s Use of Chemical […]