Steady oil price: is another drop in US crude oil inventories in the offing?

 

oil price wednesday

Oil price is on the rise and the EIA, the US Energy Information Administration, has not released its latest US oil inventory report yet – a reliable factor that influences the current crude oil price.

The confidence of investors, however, indicates the inventories may have been down during the Christmas week too.

The American Petroleum Institute, API, meanwhile, predicted a draw in crude oil inventories of 4.785 million barrels for the week ending December 25; the prediction of the same by analysts, however, was 43% of that figure for the same period.

Although yet another vaccine was approved by the health authorities in the United Kingdom, the national mood could easily be eclipsed by the surging infections and the struggles faced by the NHS, the National Health Service, to cope with the patients.

That means there is a strong possibility of elevating the current tier, to a notch above, seriously restricting the movement of the public – and traffic too.

A development of that kind in a major Western economy will affect the demand for crude oil and has the potential to skew the healthy growth of the oil price during the past few weeks.

As far as jet fuel consumption is concerned, meanwhile, there are no signs of green shoots yet. The emergence of new variant of the Coronavirus, first in the UK and then gradually in the rest of world, dampened the hopes of the aviation industry for a quick recovery.

The following live image, taken on Wednesday afternoon, shows the sad state of the industry in crisis – the state of the Heathrow airport, near London, which used to be one of the busiest airports in the world with a plane landing or taking off  in every 2-minute intervals.

Heathrow now


Despite the gloom, the aviation industry is hopeful that they can rise from the ashes again, once the pandemic shows irreversible signs of decline – as normally what happens with pathogens after a certain period of time.

Nobody doubts the collective resilience of the industry to weather the storms.

 

Popular Posts

Wil Iran attack Israel soon? Only time will tell!

Image
  Credit: Google Maps With Iran's threat against Israel in a direct strike, the tension in the Middle East went up a few notches on the scale of uncertainty, as the United States made it clear once again that it would not be a passive observer if a conflict erupts. The rising tension came in the wake of the daring attack carried out by Israeli F-35 fighter jets on the building that was adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Seven Iranian nationals, along with a few Syrians, died in the attack, two of them were from the elite Iranian IRGC - Republican Guards; they were very high ranking officers. In response to the attack, Ayatollahs Ali Khamenei, the Iranian  supreme leader, said that Israel will be punished in kind, during an Eid message on Wednesday; he did not imply in what form the retaliation could come; nor did he say whether it was imminent, leaving the ambiguity open to interpretation by military and political analysts. The supreme leader, however,
Read more

The Sun goes on Vacation: total solar eclipse - April 8, 2024

Image
Total Solar Eclipse: April 8, 2024: Vivax Solutions The lucky folks along a relatively narrow geographical band, from Mexico all the way to Canda, are going to witness a rare celestial spectacle on Monday, April 8 – a total solar eclipse. The path of totality – where people can witness total darkness - cuts across fifteen US states, before rolling into Canada in its final mesmerising leg. In mathematical proportion to the excitement, the enviably famous American entrepreneurial spirit has already gone into full swing: the hotel bookings, closer to the path of totality, have gone up exponentially and so have the prices; in addition, traders lost no time in springing into action in promoting related merchandise and of course, safety goggles, while implying that exercising caution before looking heavenward is a virtue, indeed.    The excitement that borders on ecstasy is perfectly understandable: astronomical charts show that there will not be another total eclipse for twenty years th
Read more

Will Venezuela manage to extend the period of waiver of sanctions?

Image
  Chart:www.oilfutures.co.uk | Data: OPEC As the 53rd JMCC, Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, of the OPEC+ is scheduled to take place on April 3, analysts are looking at every possible scenario that could rise in the aftermath of such a meeting. A consensus has already emerged among them that the OPEC+ would stick to its production quota for each member country. That means the official position of the OPEC+ will maintain the current production cuts as long as necessary, without increasing the production to appease the influential customers.  The cartel wants to stick to the production targets, already agreed upon, in 2024 without unnecessarily worries about the potential consequences.  With the OPEC+ sticking to it guns, without increasing the output, the top consumers of oil turned to Venezuela to buy it on the cheap as the former was given a waiver to increase the production and then sell, provided that free and fair elections will be held before the waiver expires. Venezuela i
Read more

Latest Energy News from EIA