Commodities
Oil prices tumble, Oil traders panic over new strain of COVID-19
Brent crude dropped about 3.20% to trade at $50.59 and WTI futures sank by 3.09% to $47.72.

Published
2 months agoon

Crude oil prices slumped significantly in the first trading session of the week.
The drop is largely attributed to the discovery of a new COVID-19 strain in the major emerged markets, particularly the United Kingdom which oil traders fear could pause a nascent recovery in energy demand.
READ: Covid-19: UK Govt warns of new strain that spreads faster and may have already left the UK
At the time of writing this report, Brent crude dropped about 3.20% to trade at $50.59 and WTI futures sank by 3.09% to $47.72.
The COVID-19 variant, which is reportedly much more transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19 virus, leading to a wider spread amid the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, countries like Canada, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Chile have banned travelers from going to the United Kingdom with some also banning freight from the United Kingdom.
READ: Italy court to give verdict on Nigerian oil field corruption case by March 2021
READ: United Kingdom opens window of job opportunities for international students
What this means: “A new variant of the coronavirus in Britain and tighter travel restrictions in Europe sparked fears over slower economic recovery, prompting investors to unwind long positions … the oil market has been on a bull trend in the past month or so, ignoring negative factors, amid an optimism that a widening vaccine rollout would revive global growth, but investors’ rosy expectations for 2021 have suddenly vanished,” Fujitomi Co. chief analyst, Kazuhiko Saito told Reuters.
READ: European countries ban flights from UK as new Covid-19 strain spreads
What to expect; Oil traders anticipate a small washout at today’s trading session as all those bullish synergies around reflation and a weaker US dollar are reversing a touch with the latest chaos in the UK on the back of the mutant strain of the virus.
Olumide Adesina is a France-born Nigerian. He is a Certified Investment Trader, with more than 15 years of working expertise in Investment trading. Follow Olumide on Twitter @tokunboadesina. He is a Member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Society.


Commodities
OPEC+ agrees to keep Oil output unchanged, Oil up 4%
Brent Crude was up more than 4% trading around $67 a barrel.

Published
11 hours agoon
March 4, 2021
Oil prices were all fired up at Thursday’s trading session, amid reports revealing OPEC+ agreed to Keep oil output unchanged in April.
What you should know: At the time of writing the report, Brent Crude was up more than 4% trading around $67 a barrel.
#Oil jumps 5% as OPEC+ said to agree to keep output unchanged. pic.twitter.com/Xkio8xvR7N
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) March 4, 2021
OPEC, Russia, and other oil producers on Thursday agreed to keep the status quo unchanged thereby pushing oil past its highest level since January 2020.
This is coming as a big win for the Saudis, which of late has been bent on keeping oil output in check.
Sequel to this landmark feat on keeping oil supply squeezed, OPEC+ had been debating considering if it was ideal to restore as much as 1.5 million barrels a day of output.
However, the Oil Sherrif in the person of Saudi’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman urged other leading oil producers in keeping the status quo with the exception of slight increases granted to the Russians and Kazakhstan.
Commodities
Will Nigeria be allowed to produce more oil at this OPEC meeting?
Nigeria is hopeful that OPEC+ will agree to an increase in production.

Published
21 hours agoon
March 4, 2021
This week brings forward one of the most important meetings OPEC+ faces in her history. After rescuing the markets from low oil prices with tight supply, the time has come to balance the market. OPEC and its non-OPEC allies, in short, OPEC+, will meet through videoconference in an offer to arrive at an agreement over how to oversee supply to the market.
The current week’s supply choice comes when oil prices have bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. Experts comprehensively anticipate that OPEC+ should increase oil production from current levels, however, questions stay over how much precisely and which nations will be influenced.
READ: How Libya and Iran can add to Nigeria’s woes
Two quotes to review
First the Saudi Energy Minister’s quote – “So I urge you today not to take for granted the progress we have made as a group over the past year. Do not put at risk all that we have achieved for the sake of an instant, but illusory, benefit,”. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi Energy minister highlighting why OPEC should still tread carefully in increasing output.
Secondly, the Russia Deputy Prime Minister quoted on the 14th of February, “the market is balanced”. Alexander Novak who also co-chairs the OPEC group will be clamouring for more output.
READ: Bloomberg report on OMO is “fabricated” – CBN Official
The reality
Nigeria’s economy is struggling with its low production quota. The quota is about 1.45 million barrels a day. Although reports show that Nigeria breached its quota by producing 130, 000 barrels more to 1.6 million barrels per day. Late last year, Nigeria applied to have its baseline figure to be reviewed based on disagreements over the classification of output from the country’s Agbami field. Although the request was denied, now Nigeria is hopeful that the group will agree to an increase in production.
Nigeria had shown signs of better discipline at the end of last year, and in recognition Timipre Sylva, the Nigerian Oil minister was sent to guide other African countries in improving their oil compliance levels.
OPEC and its allies are still withholding 7 million barrels a day from the market, which represents about 7% of global supply. Most Investment banks and trading houses believe prices will soar higher because of the tight supply situation. This assertion is supported by the U.S output freeze in Texas and Iranian talks on hold with the U.S.
READ: Will the Oil markets miss Donald Trump?
Although some reports still claim that the market is not as tight as it seems and prices are only up because of how financial markets or funds have gone “long” on commodities. A report from Reuters shows that ‘there might be a disconnect emerging between the strong pricing in the paper oil futures market, and the somewhat more subdued pricing in the physical crude market, especially for east of Suez cargoes.
Interestingly, the narrative the market is showing is only on the production side and does not account for the loss of demand from refineries as some Texas refineries have had poor refining margins.
At the moment, there are too many variables influencing the oil markets. On Monday, traders were assessing tensions between the U.S and Saudi Arabia as the report on the death of Jamal Khashoggi might lead to sanctions on Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia might take this into context and pump more in the interim.
READ: How Nigeria can make more money from Oil?
Will there be an increase in oil production?
Sources and various energy analysts believe the group will increase production by about 500,000-1 million barrels. Personally, I feel the figure will be close to 750,000 as Saudi Arabia might not roll over their 1 million cut promise to the market. Also, no one will want another March Madness as we witnessed last year so the best strategy is to appease all parties.
Additionally, in what we refer to as scratch-my-back diplomacy, the group will consider India’s request to reduce oil prices as the current prices are hurting economic recovery. Last month, India urged OPEC and allied oil producers to ease production as their economy battles higher gasoline prices.
Conclusion
Nigeria needs more production capacity. India and Asia need cheaper oil. Russia wants production as they believe the markets are balanced. Saudi Arabia does not want to undo the great work it has achieved since its last meeting. In a game of musical chairs, someone will eventually lose a seat. Hopefully, Nigeria will not lose her seat and get additional barrels.
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