Big_Orrin Profile picture
Jun 30, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read Read on X
1. Thread: the decision of Saudi Arabia to start a price was is probably the worst decision they made because they really did not understand the implications of their actions.

#OOTT
2. First they failed to realise that Trump and The Us had a floor to the price they were willing to accept oil. I believe Saudi thought a price war would please Trump as it brought down the price of gasoline. Huge mistake as can be seen by their back tracking.
3. It showed that Saudi maybe the biggest producer and with the most spare capacity but the swing producer is the USA not because of shale but because they can make Saudi increase and cut their production.
4. All the Saudi actions since of forcing compliance is the reaction to the bully being bullied. I am surprised countries like Nigeria have gone along with the cuts knowing the Saudis could not punish them.
5. To put this in perspective. Saudi started the Price war as way to increase market share particularly from the US. But it has backfired spectacularly. US exports have likely remained above 3mbpd around the same as before COVID-19. Saudi production has fallen more than 2mbpd
6. It means that outside the US, Saudi market share has fallen compared to the US which was really not what they were after doing when they started the price war.
7. Their actions have left the market completely unbalanced and it is hurting their customers refinery margins.They have left the market unbalanced between too much light sweet crude and too little medium/heavy sour crude.
8. This can be seen with extremely low refinery utilization while at the same time record differentials for Crudes like Urals.
9. Saudi talked this week about being the last and biggest producer. It shows they do not understand Geopolitics. They forget customers buy from producers they trust. After the last 3 months, Saudi have lost a lot of trust. Their assumptions like the price war maybe very wrong

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More from @Big_Orrin

Feb 6
1. Trumps whole idea for reducing inflation it seems is by reducing energy prices particularly oil.

But his policies towards oil are just ridiculous.

He wants to reduce oil and gasoline prices to reduce transport, farming costs, etc.
2. His idea is reducing costs through regulation. It then expects producers to produce more bringing down prices while maintaining the profit margin from before.

He is just going to run into shareholders telling companies to maintain production and generate more FCF
3.
- He puts tariffs on oil production.
- His tariffs see counter-tariffs on U.S. crude oil
- He wants to fill the SPR to the top. He will do so with crude oil the market does not want that is not imported and can only service a small number of refineries
Read 6 tweets
Jan 15
1. Thread

The shale revolution has undoubtedly helped keep prices down over the last 15 years. its increase has helped balance the market.

However, it is the Canadian Oil sand sthat have actually had a much more pronounced effect and have allowed the US to use oil as a weapon
2. Shale is light sweet crude and what did it do. Well it menat that US imported less light sweet crude. But it has had the effect of flooding the Atlantic basin with cheap light sweet crude oil.

Oil sand son the other hand has been far more important.
3. Oil sands has helped shale because it allowed the US to reverse pipeline directions to send shale to USGC. Without oil sands, US would have needed to build many more pipelines to move shale south while moving heavier crudes north. thjose pipelines may have been keystone XL'd
Read 13 tweets
Jan 14
1. In the 1970s, the US achilles heel was it had to import oil to satisfy its needs.

The Nixon policies were the original reason for gas stations running dry well before the oil embargos.

But it was the oil embargoes that made the US absolutley paranoid about energy
2. Now to combat embargoes, US built the SPR. It could provide oil to refineries in Padd's 2,3 and 4. it was the defence against its achilles heel

It never could send crude to Padd 1 + 5 because of the absurd Jones act. And because it never built enough pipelines when they could
3. Now move ahead 50 years and Shale Oil was the saviour of the US.

It made the US energy independent, dominant and a net-importer.

All of which is a load of boll*cks

What saved the US was the oil sands in the north
Read 10 tweets
Nov 28, 2024
1. Quick 🧵why you cannot run the same amount of light crude in a refinery that is designed to run medium or heavy crude. Why US need sCanadian and cant run US crud eoil.

The problem is the overhead system cannot take the volume of light ends that are produced.
2. It all starts in the pipework that takes the light ends from the distillation coilumn to the downstream secondary units.

The most important factor that this overhead pipework is designed to do is to minimise the pressure drop between the CDU and downstream
3. Now if you introdcue more lightends by running light sweet crude instead of heavy sour. There are more light ends than normal. To get the extra out of the column you need one of two things to happen
Read 9 tweets
Nov 10, 2024
1. Why Trumps “drill Baby Drill” is actually not great for US crude oil producers.

I keep posting this graph and there is a reason why I do. It shows that demand for U.S. crude oil particularly light sweet crude oil is not growing. Actually in 2024 it is actually falling. Image
2. The reason it is all about crude oil quality and the ability of refineries to run it without compromising its throughput. It is all to do with the first important piece of equipment the crude distillation column.
3. When a refinery is designed it maximum throughput is designed using a base quality of crude oil. Much of the Med refineries are designed to run urals or Arab light crude oil or the blends that mimic them.
Read 21 tweets
Nov 4, 2024
1. Some thoughts on oil after Election

- Trumps “ Drill baby Drill” likely has little effect. U.S. production likely unaffected by either candidate too much. Any costs Trump saves producers will go to bottom line rather than huge increases in production
2.
- Any increase in US production would mean it has to be exported. But the market is already long light sweet crude especially in the Atlantic basin. So demand may just not be there either.
3.
- Harris will look for a new JCPOA with Iran. Trump will likely increase sanctions but ask OPEC to cover.

- Harris likely to increase secondary sanctions regarding Russia. Trump likely removes them. Hates China benefitting. Would leave Atlantic Basin even longer.
Read 7 tweets

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