Warm Seas Will Lead to Active Hurricane Season
May 28, 2024
Baker Hughes reported that old rigs were unchanged. US crude oil rigs have fallen by 124 oil rigs since January 2023.
Energy prices were up on Friday but down roughly 2% on the week. The buying on Friday appeared to be traders and investors not wanting to be short for the long holiday weekend and the official start to the summer driving season.
US consumer sentiment came in well above expectations at a reading of 69.1 for May 2024, which was above the 67.4 expected and the range (67.4 to 68.5) expected.
The OPEC+ group of oil producers has delayed its output policy meeting by a day to June 2nd. OPEC said the meeting was originally scheduled to take place in Vienna on June 1st but will now be held online a day later. OPEC+ oil producers are making voluntary cuts totaling about 2.2 million bpd for the first half of 2024, led by Saudi Araiba rolling over an earlier voluntary cut. The curbs are on top of earlier reductions announced in various steps since late 2022 and bring the total pledge cuts to about 5.86 million bpd, equal to about 5.7% of daily world demand.
The World Meteorological Organization said it expects a highly active hurricane season and stressed the early warnings were needed to save lives. Clare Nullis, WMO spokesperson, said “High ocean heat content and the anticipated development of La Nina event are expected to fuel a very, very, very, active hurricane season this year.” The US National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration has forecast a range for 17 to 25 named storms. Of those storms, eight to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes.