Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Oil Ends YoYo Week Slightly Lower Before OPEC Meeting

Published 03/26/2021, 12:34 PM
Updated 03/26/2021, 03:27 PM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Barani Krishnan 

Investing.com —  Oil prices rose Friday but still settled the week lower after a rollercoaster ride where the market was first buffeted by Europe’s third wave of Covid-19, before being buoyed by a Suez Canal jam that could inordinately delay global shipments of crude.

In all probability, the volatility will extend into next week when producer alliance OPEC+ meets to conceivably vote against a hike in production due to the challenges posed by new lockdowns in Europe. “It is more likely that the group will look to extend production cuts,” Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago, said.

New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled Friday’s trade up $2.41, or 4.1%, at $60.97. For the week though, it was down 0.8%, extending last week’s 6.4% drop and the previous week’s 0.7% slide.  

London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for crude, finished the regular session higher by $2.48, or 4%, at $64.43. For the week, it showed a decline of 0.2%, adding to the combined 7% loss of the previous two weeks.

Since Tuesday, oil has gyrated in a yoyo-like fashion, falling 6% before recovering almost all of that the next day, and then taking another downward turn on Thursday with a 4% drop that was recouped in the current session.

Friday’s rebound came amid reports that it could take weeks to dislodge a giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal — a development that could delay the global movement of crude and refined products well into mid-April. Shipping rates for oil product tankers have already almost doubled this week, responding to the crisis.

The Suez Canal is jammed after powerful winds forced Ever Given — a Panama-flagged, Taiwanese-operated and Japanese-owned ship — aground on one of its banks. The blockade has disrupted one of the world’s most important maritime arteries, through which roughly 10% of global shipping traffic passes. 

According to tanker tracking firm Kpler, of the 39.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of total seaborne trade in crude in 2020, 1.74 million went through the canal. Additionally, 1.54 million barrels daily of refined oil products such as gasoline and diesel fuel flow through the waterway, making up about 9% of global seaborne product trade.

As of Friday, hundreds of ships were stuck at each end of the 120-mile passage which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. A Dutch salvage firm — which has rescued and recovered dozens of ships and wrecks from sea, including Russia's Kursk nuclear submarine from the Barents Sea floor — is working to free the Ever Given tanker, which diagonally is said to be as long as New York's Empire State Building is tall.

Crude prices were also lifted somewhat by reports that Yemeni Houthi forces had launched attacks on Thursday on facilities owned by Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco (SE:2222). For weeks now, such Houthi attacks have been reported and quickly discounted for impact, providing nothing more than fleeting support to the oil market.

More important though was what the OPEC+ alliance will do next week — particularly what its figurehead, the Saudis, will think up to try and bring back the mojo in a market that rallied nearly four months non-stop before last week’s stunning 7% drop that set it on a rollercoaster motion. 

Since April, the 23-nation OPEC+ — made up of the 13-member Saudi-led OPEC, or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and 10 other non-OPEC nations steered by Russia — has withheld between nine and seven million barrels per day of regular supply from the market. 

Those cuts helped WTI rise from a little under $36 per barrel on Oct. 30 to reach just below $68 by March 8. Brent went from beneath $38 to just above $71 in that same stretch. But over the past fortnight, the two benchmarks have lost about 10% from those highs.

The most critical component of the OPEC+ cuts has been the Saudi portion —  which has accounted for anywhere between one and two million barrels per day since April. 

In January, when the market was actively betting on the alliance to hike production amid strengthening signs of demand recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the Saudis doubled down with an additional one million-barrel cut for February and March, sending crude prices soaring. They pulled off a similar stunt last month, after bypassing the opportunity to raise production for April. 

At next week’s meeting for May quotas, the smart money is on the Saudis to try and clamp down on output again, though some said the kingdom’s propensity to surprise was beginning to fade.

“You do it once, it’s a surprise. Twice maybe. Third time? I wouldn’t think so,” said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. “I think another cut is already baked into the cake and the market is beginning to get a little desensitized to the OPEC show.”

Latest comments

hello
hello
I guess the Saudis are likely to extend or even deepen the voluntary cuts of 100m bpd to boost Brent price. However the "surprise" factor won't be strong as last time and the price won't hang on high for long. I'm ready to TP all long positions since Brent $61.
Ernest, my man. My money is on you. You perfectly echo what I said in the story: To quote the Rastafarian King Marley: "You can fool some people some time, but you can't fool all the people all the time" (i.e. Saudis). This one-trick pony show has to end. Have a great weekend, mate! 🍾🥂
onward and upward
up
It will finish higher
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.