Oil Futures Run Wild Again Today

[wilmawatts]

• The recent political uncertainty in Egypt raises fears of further instability in the oil exporting region. Around 4.5% of global oil production flows through Egypt’s Suez Canal every day. Add in the fact that almost all the physical crude grades consumed by Europe are now in short supply including Russian, Iraqi, Libyan and African grades. North Sea supplies, which underpin Brent pricing, are also expected to be extremely low in the coming months as output will be reduced due to maintenance in August.

Sweet

[wilmawatts]

Will be interesting to see how Egypt plays out this week, and if investor concerns moderate. I expect they will. Apparently many US politicians say this was not a coup so we can continue to pour money into the country. Go figure. Need to keep the money flowing in to keep the place stable, seems to have worked so far

Bottom line is that things are more unstable in the area, and not really controllable without a major commitment, than many will acknowledge publicly. At least that is my take. Putin says Egypt is near a civil war, like Syria just going over the cliff.

RBC Capital Markets report says crude oil prices are in a symmetrical triangle, and most likely will resume their pre-existing trend shortly - which was bullish for prices. We will see.

[wilmawatts]

Crude futures up 44 cents tonight. Maybe the run continues this week?

[wilmawatts]

Looks like a pullback on the open, not unexpected after the jump.

But violence in Egypt continues, and Iraq for that matter, and Syria. Hope nothing interrupts crude oil flows, lots of oil floating around that area.

[wilmawatts]

Looks like over 100 protesters shot in Egypt and killed this morning according to news articles, Suez Canal still open and operating however. But one of Libya's oil exporting ports has been closed by protests this morning. Crude futures back to unchanged.

Lots of conflict that can get in the way of production and shipments, but hey, we have seen this story before.

Am going to love to see how the Administration handles all this, and the issue of aid or no aid in light of the uprising.