Energy Prospectus

Read: https://www.investing.com/news/commodit ... ne-1592710

We live in a world that consumes over 100,000,000 barrels of hydrocarbon based liquid fuels and feedstock PER DAY, most of which are made from crude oil (black oil). To say we ever had a "glut" was an over-statement when we never had much more than 30 days of supply at any point. Today, most U.S. refined product inventories are getting close to the "danger zone" on days of supply.

Note that the analysts quoted in the article are now expecting Brent to go over $80/bbl.

The gap between WTI and Brent has widened again to around $8/bbl. Europe is much more dependent on oil from the Middle East and North Africa than we are, so the sanctions against Iran will impact them more.

Morgan Stanley's "Weekly Oil Stock Summary" dated August 30, 2018 shows combined crude oil storage levels in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Singapore are below the 5-year average.

These are the only areas with somewhat reliable weekly oil storage reports.

Gasoline inventories are above the 5-year average but Distillate inventories are way below the 5-year average. Fuel oil inventories are way below the 5-year range and winter is rapidly approaching. This explains why refiners continue to run at a very high utilization rate.