Modest rise in oil price looks like can stay in place

Malcolm Graham-Wood Independent Analyst

I return from Norway, where little seems to phase them, to find a modest rise in the oil price that looks as if it is going to stay, at least for the time being. There are still plenty of bears around but the people that count appear to think that they can influence on the upside. This was perfectly described by the Saudi Oil Minister when speaking at the oil and money conference in London when he said that he had the distinct impression that the market was clearly balancing or did he say, nearly balancing? Must have been the former as he went on to say that ‘the oil market is on the brink of a turnaround' and thanks for the $17.5bn from the bond raise...

The other change has been that the inventory stats keep defying the wit of the analysts that are paid vast sums to guess the number each week, this time they again got the sign wrong, expecting a build of 2.7m barrels the EIA reported a draw of 5.2m which also rallied the market. Watch out for WTI expiry tonight after which we are in the December contract.

Author

Malcolm Graham-Wood

Independent Analyst

Malcolm Graham-Wood started his City career as a trainee analyst at Wood Mackenzie and then cut a swathe through a number of broking houses, all the time building up his knowledge and love of the upstream oil and gas industry incl

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