Iraq offers Asian buyers largest discount on its oil since 2003 OPEC oil producers compete for Asian market share
I believe the spreads in the front are indicating on-land storage is nearing capacity and the spillover into water-based storage is beginning to hasten (see bolded in "Spot storage"). Spot storage Storage Industry Benefits From Oil Contango US gasoline market players grapple with wide futures spreads The bid in crude at the moment is driven by its own contango structure and strong cracks which are in turn driven by steep global contangos in gasoline and distillate curves. Light African barrels are supported by Libyan issues (again) and strong naphtha cracks.
Chinese trader Unipec sells crude stored on megatanker as prices rise -sources Looks like Unipec hedged the cargo with the Jan/July Brent or Dubai spreads.
No clue. Oil supply chain is too complex unless your plugged into Platts. My economic thesis was that there was no place to store all that oil and the shipping industry has already bottomed in valuation from the Greek/Industry troubles. Simple. I will become an "investor" in the next recession. Old school Graham and Dodd stuff, but Oil Majors and Refining only.
Alittle late on the commentary, but VLCC freight rates fell in late July after Nigeria banned ~18% of the global fleet from entering its waters. A sudden surge in available supply has the effect one would expect on prices. While they gave no official reason for the ban, I suspect it had to do with many of the trading companies altering the destinations for the cargos after leaving Nigerian waters. Nigerian crude oil taxes are subject to destination clauses that vary in cost depending on the final destination of the cargo, so it appears NNPC wised up to and got tired of the mid-voyage route changes.
How about "grim death" LNG? Cheniere's Sabine Pass Terminal Trains 1-4 will be complete in 4Q 2015. Given the valuations, there seem to be some incredibly high expectations. Carl Icahn has taken an 8% stake. I think LNG may have found a floor in it's stock price.