New Frontiers: NYMEX deals with the oil market’s changing blends
As The Barrel blog discussed last week, the mix of crudes in the US is changing, and there’s a lot of blending going on. That is creating some problems for the world’s busiest oil contract, the light...
View ArticleWTI surge outpaces the rest of the oil complex
What if WTI is now a broken benchmark because it’s too high relative to the rest of the world? What is striking about the widely discussed “rise in oil prices” recently has been the fact that over the...
View ArticleIranian tankers catering to energy needs of Bashar Assad’s regime
As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces battle to keep the rebels out of the territories where the opposition have some inroads, a large part of the war-torn country’s vital energy supplies are...
View ArticlePipeline moves mean uncertain future for three Canadian grades of crude oil
All the proposed pipelines across eastern Canada are capturing headlines, but are leaving three crudes out in the cold, literally. Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose, the three grades produced from...
View ArticleUS airlines find fuel for less in 2013…but not everywhere
Years of consolidation, capacity cuts, fuel efficient planes and other cost controls helped jet fuel prices glide downward in 2013. But some US markets have still felt turbulence. US airlines are...
View ArticleRising RINs price is driving some companies to boost their ethanol activities
US refiners are leaping more into physical biofuels blending, even as the US government appears to be pondering a cut in renewables mandates. This month PBF Energy and Alon USA both told analysts they...
View ArticleJapan’s Iran crude imports stabilizing for now, gloomy weather ahead
After showing larger-than-usual fluctuations in monthly volumes during the second quarter of 2013, Japan’s crude imports from Iran look likely to stabilize for the next few months at least, as Tokyo...
View ArticleRegulation & Environment: the ever-enduring Jones Act isn’t going away
It’s been around a long time, it gets a lot of derision, but the Jones Act isn’t going away. In this week’s Oilgram News column Regulation & Environment, Melanie Wold discusses its impact....
View ArticleNew swap platforms of little consequence to energy trading
The swaps industry is preparing for a major overhaul with swap execution facilities, the new Dodd-Frank mandated swap trading platforms, expected to “go-live” October 2. But for the energy industry,...
View ArticleGetting enough premium gasoline remains a grade-A challenge at the rack
OK, raise your hand if you have done one of these things, ever: A) Bought premium gasoline to impress your date. (This one’s mainly for you, fellas. Why you didn’t fill up before you went out is...
View ArticleCommodities: Private equity takes over where banks leave off
Just as the US oil industry starts to get really interesting, banks are being forced to leave it. New regulations and over-zealous government, nervous over the presence of banks in physical oil and...
View ArticleLNG contract sales are ripe for a shakeup
The cracks in the once-impregnable edifice of oil-price linked LNG term contract pricing are widening. Since last autumn, when Japan’s industry and energy ministry METI hosted the first LNG...
View ArticleWho’s going to succeed Gary Gensler at CFTC?
With Gary Gensler’s time as Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission coming to a close after five years of leadership, new unidentified sources in Washington have re-stirred the...
View ArticleEnergy Economist: Chasing the Asian LNG arb
An arbitrage is a difference in value for a commodity relative to location. It is something that efficient markets close. Billions of dollars are being invested in the US to take advantage of the price...
View ArticleMars and LLS, key Gulf crude oil grades, can’t keep up
Have Mars and Light Louisiana Sweet crudes become marginalized after failing to rise with a wide Brent-WTI spread? In the past week, with the ICE Brent-NYMEX WTI spread blowing out—it was at parity...
View ArticleFed tapering is on the table, but oil prices are less impacted
After a two-day policy meeting this week, the US Federal Reserve left the door open to tapering its $85 billion monthly bond buying purchases, despite a 16-day government shutdown and a somewhat hazy...
View ArticleAmerican-US Air deal driven more by fuel prices, not ticket prices
The long wedding march for US airlines is nearing its end, with all the marriages bringing much-needed discipline into the industry. A federal settlement November 12 finally allowed US Airways and...
View ArticleBig changes in California LCFS are called for in a new report
The University of California-Davis has a new study out about California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Once you get past the standard dry academic writing, much of it is fairly startling. We care about...
View ArticleLLS discount to Brent could be permanent on light sweet crude invasion
The Louisiana Light Sweet prompt crude price has disconnected from its traditional price spread relationships as a light sweet crude wave invades the US Gulf Coast. Traditionally, the price of...
View ArticleAmple supply, low demand opening up new markets for Americas crude oil
Two new arbitrages have opened in the last month for two vastly different crude markets, both created by the abundant supply coming out of North America’s ever-growing production and low seasonal...
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