There's not enough natural gas to substitute for heating oil. So this will help support crude oil prices. What we need is not (crude) oil but heating oil and natural gas. Unfortunately, there's no strategic reserves for them.
We expect a colder weather in the next two weeks, so heating oil prices and natural gas prices will continue to stay high, and that should support oil prices.
This deal is positive. China needs to import oil, after all, but we have to know the valuation of the assets before we can say if it is at the right price.
So even though in absolute size of purchase China is really only one-third that of the U.S., when it comes to incremental growth, China is a big player.
Oil futures are looking forward to a much colder-than-expected winter. The fact that we have had so many refineries shut down means we are going into this winter on perhaps not enough heating oil.
Oil futures are looking forward to a much colder-than-expected winter as forecast by many meteorologists. The fact that we have had so many refineries shut down means we are going into this winter on perhaps not enough heating oil.
The forward production growth guidance of 5% is very admirable for a super oil major. Its operating profit surpasses General Electric and Microsoft.
