Weekly Energy Recap: A Bearish Week In Oil, But The Bulls Will Run For The Rest Of Q1

Summary

• The market is extremely tight especially in medium and heavy crude grades.
• It is intuitive that the tightness in the market will transform into shortage before the end of the first quarter of 2019 — and that will boost prices.
• oil-price deterioration due to a global economic slowdown, as predicted by some, is completely wrong.
• A potential return of supply from Libya has not yet materialized in the market.
• China crude oil imports are still rising, and never slowed down despite the trade despite with the US.

Last week saw several developments in the oil market that should have raised prices — yet it ended with bearish sentiment, with Brent easing to $62.10 per barrel, and WTI falling to $52.72.

The signals for the rest of the first quarter of 2019 are, however, on the upside. The market is extremely tight — especially in medium and heavy crude grades. If that continues, the global market will face a huge supply shortage, exceeding the conditions that drove oil prices above $86 last year.

There are several factors behind this.

According to a S&P Global Platts survey, OPEC production in January was at its lowest level since March 2015. Crude output plunged to 30.86 million barrels per day (bpd), a fall of 970,000 bpd from December, as new supply quotas went into force on Jan. 1.

On top of that, a potential return of supply from Libya has not yet materialized in the market — with ongoing unrest at the El Sharara oilfield, the country’s largest, further restricting supply.

Strong imports from China are also deepening market tightness, with total crude imports at 10.4 million bpd, up around 2.3 million bpd from last year. This a bullish development. China crude oil imports are still rising, and never slowed down despite the trade despite with the US.

This means that the oil-price deterioration due to a global economic slowdown, as predicted by some, is completely wrong.

The US sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports are also impacting the market. Venezuelan oil production had already experienced problems prior to the sanctions, given the deterioration of infrastructure and internal labor problems. S&P Global Platts expects oil output to further fall to below 800,000 bpd by the end of February.

Counter to all this is that US producers continue to put more oil on the market, with output at a record 11.9 million bpd lately, with exports reaching 2.8 million bpd, the fourth-highest number on record.

Yet given all the other factors at play, it is intuitive that the tightness in the market will transform into shortage before the end of the first quarter of 2019 — and that will boost prices.

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.