Mid-Week Review – September 11, 2019

Bullish Sentiment Is Back In Oil Markets

On Sunday King Salman appointed his son Abdulaziz the new energy minister of the country, ousting Khalid al-Falih, who had led the Saudi energy ministry since 2016. While the move could have caused anxiety in trading circles, pressuring prices, assurances that Abdulaziz bin Salman would stay on the current course with regard to production seemed to have appeased the market. OPEC and its partners are meeting on Thursday to discuss the next steps in the supply control deal. While many expect an extension to the cuts, some have gone further, expecting also additional cuts. Click here to read more from Oilprice.com.

Oil drops after Trump says he fired national security advisor John Bolton

Oil futures fell on Tuesday, losing early gains, after President Donald Trump announced that he fired national security advisor John Bolton. While Bolton’s exit stunned Washington, it also weighed on markets as his removal “dials back fears of an attack on Iran,” John Kilduff of Again Capital told CNBC. Before Trump’s announcement, oil markets were headed higher on Tuesday toward its longest run of gains since late July.  Click here to read more from CNBC.

Iran’s Dark Tanker Fleet Poses Oil World’s Biggest Mystery

While one Iranian tanker is attracting global attention, serious oil watchers remain absorbed by a bigger mystery: the hunt for the rest of Iran’s fleet. The quest has led to ever more inventive methods of tracking ships, and divergent views on the amounts of crude secretly slipping into world markets. That’s because the vessels have mostly “gone dark” since sanctions were tightened this year, switching off transponders that would reveal their location. “Iran is simply doing a better job of putting their oil into other people’s hands — or their own storage tin-cans — than anybody has expected.”  Click here to read more from Bloomberg.

U.S. to monitor Iranian oil shipments, will eye Chinese purchases

Chinese oil companies such as Sinopec [SASADZ.UL], CNOOC Ltd and others have managed to reduce their shipments of Iranian oil but it is unclear which Chinese government parties might still be buying Iranian oil, a senior U.S. energy official said on Tuesday. Dan Brouillette, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, told Reuters in an interview that Iranian oil shipments will be monitored and Washington will consider “designating” or blacklisting any identified party who violates the sanctions. Click here to read more from Reuters.