Huge stocks, declining consumption and reducing prices. Yet, Saudi Arabian oil production is running at close to maximum, Iraqi oil is increasing and Iranian oil will soon hit the market. Economic theories are being overturned and more than one economist is turning in his grave. (Economists are not, and never have been, very good at forecasts though they are all past-masters at generating theories based on back-casts).
Now, the experts are beginning to contemplate what has been unthinkable so far – oil price diving to $10/barrel.
Reuters: Crude oil fell 3 percent on Tuesday, heading toward $30 per barrel and levels not seen in over a decade, with analysts scrambling to cut their price forecasts and traders betting on further declines.
Prices are down around 20 percent since the start of the year, dragged lower by soaring oversupply, China’s weakening economy and stock market turmoil, as well as the strong dollar, which makes it more expensive for countries using other currencies to buy oil.
…… On the supply side, Iraq, which has become the second biggest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), plans to export a record of around 3.63 million barrels per day (bpd) from its southern oil terminals in February, trade sources said on Tuesday, citing a preliminary loading program, up 8 percent from this month.
“The near-term outlook for the oil market is bleak. OPEC is producing flat-out into a market that is oversupplied by over 1 million barrels per day; already decelerating demand growth could further decay with slowing economic activity; and OECD inventories that are already at record levels are likely to expand through at least the middle of the year,” Jefferies said on Tuesday.
Adjusting to the price rout, analysts have been shifting their price outlooks downward, with Barclays, Macquarie, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Standard Chartered and Societe Generale all cutting their 2016 oil forecasts this week.
StanChart took the most bearish view, saying prices could drop as low as $10 a barrel.
“We think prices could fall as low as $10/bbl before most of the money managers in the market conceded that matters had gone too far,” the bank said.
In my simplistic view, a reducing price for something I consume is fundamentally a “good thing”. But I can’t help feeling that this price drop is not a sound, sustainable reduction based on cost reduction. It is manipulated and artificial and is due to a misguided Saudi strategy against shale oil, Russian oil and Iran. And it is going horribly wrong.
The k2p blog 