Crude Oil markets are being torn from rising because of rising geo-political risk against a backprop of a rising dollar that surged to new highs thwarting the oil war risk rally.
The oil markets are coming to grips with the fact that President Biden to want to escalate the tensions in the world on his way out the door and seems want to escalate tensions around the world.
The massive bloodshed in the Russian-Ukraine War got worse after Biden allowed Ukraine to use US-provided, long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) inside Russian territory, which seemed to make talk of a Trump-negotiated ceasefire more difficult.
Then Biden approved the use of anti-personnel land mines to slowdown, kill and maim Russian troops.
Now today Bloomberg News is reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding a ‘working meeting on Friday evening according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
While they say the agenda of the meeting was not specified it may be a sigh that Russia is prepared to up its response to the Biden war escalation.
The UK is going along and Putin hands threatening them. Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike the UK with a new ballistic missile which he used in Ukraine amid the ongoing war between the two countries, reported news agency PA Media. The uncertainty about what this meeting may be and whether it will result in a major response by Putin is going to keep the market on edge.
It is not just Russia where we’re seeing the risks of war rise yet in Iran. Rember how oil sold off on the Headline that Iran would stop pursing weapons grade uranium. Remember how I said that was misleading. Well today the market is getting clarification.
Bloomberg reported that “Iran said it will increase its nuclear fuel- making capacity after it was censured by the United Nations atomic watchdog, ratcheting up tensions with the West just days after it signaled a willingness to ease them. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, ordered a “significant collection” of “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to a rebuke from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency over Tehran’s failure to resolve a probe into uranium particles found at undeclared sites, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.”
And while Gold ignored the early morning surge and the dollar the oil had a harder time doing so.
A blast of cold weather definitely supported the oil market and natural gas there are some forecasters calling for the possibility of a very cold December and while those forecasts have not been solidified if that happens we may see a brand new market when it comes to diesel and natural gas.
John Kemp of JKemp Energy points out that “LONDON has experienced the coldest start to the winter heating season for five years since 2019. LONDON and Southeast England temperatures have plunged far below average for the time of year, sending heating demand and gas consumption surging. Temperatures at Heathrow Airport were almost 7°Cbelow the long-term seasonal average on November 21. Total (EPA:TTEF) heating demand so far this winter has been more than 16% higher than average.
That is another wrinkle as it’s a reminder that Europe’s energy crisis only one cold stretch away. Years of bad shortsighted energy policies and more reliance on the bad information from the International Energy Agency have put the continents energy security is in bad shape.
On fact so much so, the main spokesman for IEA, the same IEA that discouraged d drilling for natural gas is now raising the alarm bells about rapidly falling natural gas supply.
Fatih Birol o IEA is covered as “EU gas storage withdrawals have surged lately. Ensuring ample gas storage for later this winter is important to mitigate market risks, with a potential halt to Russian gas transit via Ukraine looming.”
So now he tells us. So now he’s worried. A little late my friend, is it not, .
He did say that “An LNG supply wave is set to ease market strains in the 2nd half of this decade” Yet I thought he wanted to get rid of that nasty fossil fuel.
In the US we saw as I predicted the first gas withdrawal of the season. I got lucky but was still wrong as the withdrawal was even 2 bcf bigger than I thought.
The Energy Information Administration reported that “Working gas in storage was 3,969 Bcf as of Friday, November 15, 2024, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decrease of 3 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 141 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 239 Bcf above the five-year average of 3,730 Bcf. At 3,969 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.’