Eeks! Is it time to sell all of my oil and oil-related stocks?

They've been creeping back up after cratering a while back. And then what - cash or gold?

From my cursory glance, figure 5 tells me that there's no relationship between storage and price - !?

And isn't 120 million barrels just 1 1/2 days supply? Doesn't seem like a lot to me... Hurricanes are coming in less than a month, and driving season, and doesn't oil usually go up in the Summertime?

It's OK if I'm wrong but that's just what I'm thinking...

Hello,

Figure 5 shows price development versus (average daily) total petroleum storage movements (withdrawals or build), and from that perspective the figure is a poor indicator to tell anything of the relation between storage and price.

I think a better indicator is to follow total storage and how that deviates from previous seasons.

This winter has seen strong and unseasonal inventory builds not seen in a while.

These are 120 million barrels that have no geological constraints.

Keeping in mind that pricing happens at the marginal barrel an inventory build over a year of 120 Mb adds a demand of approx. 0,3 Mb/d.

If this inventory later is used as a supply source and lets for the illustration say that it is emptied during one year, this will add supply of approx. 0,3Mb/d.

Then this will have the same effect on the market as an increase of supplies of approx. 0,6 Mb/d from one year to the next.

Through the recent years oil prices has normally grown during the summer, but there are some differences around this time.

- Rune

Rune,

Thanks for checking in. I expect an interesting Summer.

How's the water temperature in the GOM these days?