03-13-2015, 11:16 PM
Europe’s largest oil companies are gaining support from an unlikely source as they confront the industry’s worst slump since the financial crisis: lower oil prices. Although better known for their oil fields, refineries, and petrol stations, BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA are also the world’s biggest oil traders, handling enough crude and refined products every day to meet the consumption of Japan, India, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The trio’s sway in commodities trading, largely unknown outside the industry, is set to pay off in 2015 as the bear market allows traders to generate higher returns by storing cheap oil today to sell at higher prices later and using lower prices to make more bets with the same capital.
How Big Oil Is Profiting From the Slump - Yahoo Finance
We keep waiting for the bust, the gigantic rollover of oil companies that just plain collapse under their own weight and the $50 price that you get for West Texas Intermediate. It hasn't happened. We keep waiting for the junk bond market that is riddled with $200 billion in oil and gas paper to be crushed by defaults and restructurings. It hasn't been.
Jim Cramer: The Gigantic Oil Crash That Hasn't Occurred - TheStreet
Oil prices might have stabilized only temporarily because the global oil glut is worsening and U.S. production shows no sign of slowing, the International Energy Agency said on Friday. The West's energy watchdog said the United States may soon run out of spare capacity to store crude, which would put additional downward pressure on prices.
IEA sees renewed pressure on oil prices as glut worsens | Reuters
Everything, so they say, is relative. Over the last two weeks, as WTI crude oil prices have turned tail and once again dived back below $50/Barrel, there has been much talk of an extension of the collapse, with oil moving even lower. When the most fundamental influence on the oil price, the strength of the U.S. Dollar, is taken into account, however, the fact that WTI is still holding above the base formed last month indicates quite the opposite.