Share to twitterThe oil market is providing little cheer for the bulls these days. At the mercy of an uncertain global outlook, U.S. President Donald Trump's Twitter account, China-U.S. trade tensions, macroeconomic kerfuffle in Europe and all else in between, Brent – the global proxy oil futures benchmark – remains in technical backwardationBut examine closely and you will find that the premium itself has narrowed to less than $2 per barrel.
. Of the remaining four, the U.S. is not turning to the global market like it used because of rising domestic production. China's economic outlook remains cloudy, with its post global financial crisis stimulus inspired oil importation levels from 2010-12 unlikely to return. "The last time the whole U.S. curve was inverted in this way and a recession didn't follow, was in 1986, when the bond market rally was led by a very sharp fall in oil prices as OPEC output increased by around 25%," says Kit Juckes, Head of Forex at Société Générale.
Initially, most U.S. barrels heading east were of light sweet crude clients lost by Malaysia and Indonesia given their respective production declines. But industry evidence is increasingly pointing to Asian refiners altering their refining complexes to process readily available lighter U.S. crude.
US no. 1 export... you guessed it.. OIL Forbes garbage