As the oil market collapse has taken WTI into the uncharted and “impossible” territory of negative prices, there has been considerable attention not only on where prices might be going, but also what is happening to the forward curve, and what it means. Even in more normal markets, the structure of the forward curve “backwardation” and “contango” is a source of confusion – mystery even.
The real oil market is killing Nigeria.
US oil inventories are at record levels, but there are a few glimmers of hope that the glut could be starting to subside.
Oil companies booked tankers to store as many as 9 million barrels of crude in northwest Europe amid signs that space in on-land depots is filling up, a ship-operator said. The glut could get bigger still, given the region is scheduled to load the most cargoes in 4 1/2 years next month.
Contango Oil & Gas said it has struck a deal with a private company to purchase one-half of the seller's interest in more than 12,000 undeveloped acres in a $25million deal.
Weekly US commercial crude oil inventories have increased by more than 71 million barrels (15%) since the end of September, pushing crude oil storage capacity utilisation to a near record high of 73% for the week ending June 10.