Hopes of Iranian Oil Entering Market Dim Under Nuclear Deal Skepticism
September 12, 2022
German, France, and Britain over the weekend acknowledged that they have doubts that the Iran nuclear deal will get done. This means that all those hopes for more Iranian barrels of oil on the market have been dashed. Crude oil and refined product prices are higher this morning, but there is still the ongoing fear of the global economy stumbling and negatively impacting energy demand.
The European Central Bank raised interest rates to try and slow inflation. Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, said that the US central bank will stick to its plan to hike rates to fight inflation.
Baker Hughes reported that crude oil rigs were down by 5 rigs.
The US Department of Energy said on Friday that the White House is not considering a new release of US SPR beyond the 180 million barrels scheduled through the end of October.
From John Kemp of Reuters. Hedge funds and other money managers increased their short positions in NYMEX WTI crude oil futures and options by 2 million barrels to 44 million barrels in the week to September 6, among the largest number of short positions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Bearish sentiment has been gradually building since the start of June as the economy slows under the combined impact of supply chain problems, inflation, and rising interest rates.
China could see its energy demand drop for the first time in 20 years as its zero covid policy continues to keep people inside and negative impacts energy demand.