Market Currents: Bearish tilt to oil market remains
Thursday September 15, 2016
1) Today’s post out on RBN Energy is by the mighty Abudi Zein, discussing how net U.S. crude oil imports remain stubbornly high. The piece highlights how it wasn’t only Hurricane Hermine that contributed to last week’s humungous draw to crude inventories, but also the Labor Day holiday slowing operations, as well as reduced imports ahead of the ad valorem tax assessment on September 1.
As the chart below illustrates, net imports since February have been up every month versus year-ago levels. Looking ahead, as Middle East producers continue to target the U.S. market, in combination with difficulty of selling U.S. crude overseas, it is more likely that we see a rise in net imports for the rest of the year than a drop.
2) From one fine fellow to another, John Kemp (@JKempEnergy) today has addressed the latest demand data out of India. Despite talk of ‘wobbling’ Asian demand from IEA earlier this week, gasoline consumption in India has climbed to a new record. Consumption increased nearly 15 percent between June and August on the p...