Big_Orrin Profile picture
Sep 6, 2020 10 tweets 2 min read Read on X
1. Thread

Lot of talk on the floating storage in China but it needs to be looked at more carefully than just the big number that is being posted.

The tweet below shows the problem is mainly in one area. Qingdao

#OOTT
2. When looking at the ships that have arrived there are different kinds
- cargoes waiting to unload
- distressed cargoes that are still looking for a buyer
- floating storage which are cargoes waiting for the price to go up before being sold.
3. Knowing what each cargo is important because many of those cargoes may not be unloaded for months (floating storage) nor belong to Chinese refineries (floating storage, distressed cargoes).
4. Some of these cargoes may also be deliveries to INE storage as part of the Chinese crude futures contract. These cargoes have yet to find a final destination. Some of these cargoes have already been exported and sold onto South Korean refiners.
5. But what is the most important is how many barrels a day are being discharged through Qingbao particularly. If discharge rates are falling it could suggest a problem of storage availability in China. But if it is remaining the same it suggests China just bought a lot of crude.
6. China bought significant amounts of crude between March and June. This was bought while prices are cheap. There is expected to be significantly less crude oil arriving from September onwards to possibly January 2021. This backlog then is not a worry for the market.
7. Chinese buying had much more of an effect on taking prices back to $45 than OPEC cuts. Without there excessive buying the market would have been around 1-2mbpd further oversupplied from March to June. Around 125-250mb.
8. But what should be a worry is that these high deliveries will not continue. Deliveries from September to January already look much weaker and it is likely OPEC+ May have to slowdown or stop the increasing production.
9. Mar-Jun Chinese buying was seen by record high level of differentials during that period. Now differentials are falling as China has cut back significantly its buying. Dated Brent is now trading near WTI levels while very short programs of Urals in Sept are seeing diffs fall
10. In other words high “floating storage” numbers at Chinese ports is actually a bullish sign as demand for Chinese for oil was high. Falling levels is bearish as it means China is buying less crude oil. It is the other way round to standard theory.

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More from @Big_Orrin

Sep 18
1. Physical traders rarely negotiate fixed price for their oil.

What they do negotiate is
- The differential
- The benchmark off pricing
- The pricing period
- plus a few other non-price related factors.
2. Those three things are what they typically haggle over

Differnetials are small a few dollars but they tell you supply/demand situation because you can look at them over a long period. Physical traders talk to each other an share information. Includes Platts, Argus, etc
3. The benchmark negotiated usually is determined by what benchmark the refinery sells their products. Refineries have a natural hedge and try to buy the same amount of crude a day as products they sell.
Read 15 tweets
Sep 12
1. Oil markets fall under the McNamara Fallacy

It was named after Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. And involves making a decision based solely on simple and easy quantitative metrics and ignoring anything difficult to interpret
2. He thought success in war could be easily calculated. In this case the one with the highest body count is the loser.

Spain does this for school teachers where those with best governmental exam results become teachers even if they are useless at teaching.
3. Daniel Yankelovich on McNamara Fallacy:

1. measure whatever is easily measured
2. disregard that which can't easily be measured or given a quantitative value
3. presume that what can't be measured easily isn't important
4.say that what can't be easily measured doesn't exist
Read 6 tweets
Sep 4
1. Short 🧵

The idea the oil market will be in a huge deficit going into 4Q 2024 is not being shown by reality in the physical market.
2. @Amena__Bakr and @energyintel suggested that there would be a deficit of 1.75mbpd in the 2H of 2024. Now let’s put that in perspective.

If it is average over the whole of 2H then at the end of 2024 that deficit would be closer to 3mbpd. That is 3% of demand
3. The only phrase about the oil market supply is 1% below demand is an oil crisis, 1% above demand it is a glut, so what is 3%?

That is more than was being talked about being lost at the beginning of the Russian/Ukraine war. That costs differentials to skyrocket
Read 12 tweets
Jun 11
1. Short 🧵

There are a number of problems with this graph and the forecast for up take of BEVs. The curve is way too steep.

The biggets factor is the purchase of total new cars.

New car purchases are less now than in 2019. they were particularly low through 2020 to 2022.
2.
New car sales in EU
2019: 13028948
2020: 9939418
2021: 9700089
2022: 9255926
2023: 10500000

Despite growing from 242k to 1.5m in that period BEV got a huge boost in their market share through 2020-23 because total car sales fell by nearly 30%.
3.
In the 7 years prior to COVID in 2020, New car sales grew at an average 4.4% each year. If that had continued, New car sales in 2023 would have been 15.5m cars. that would have left BEV market share at 9.69% not the 14.3% it acheived in 2023.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 18
1. Short 🧵on what will be the most overhyped flop in the oil market.

The answer is the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Canadians think this will have the effect of increasing demand for Canadian crude oil, putting up the differential and make Canadian producers more profitable.
2. There is significant problems in that idea.

Main one is it might create too much supply for demand. Here are the problems.

- The crude is very heavy has huge amounts of sulphur but worst of all most will have aTaN of between 1.6 and 2.2.

Few refineries can refine that
2.
The problem with acidity is where it comes out in the refinery. That acidity number will increase as the crude is seperated. Because this is very heavy crude, the light crude it is blended with will not help disperse the acidity.
Read 11 tweets
Mar 16
1. Short 🧵

Remember Ukrainians are not reducing Russian revenues hugely at moment. More crude oil exported will balance less products.

- But it is doing medium/long term damage to Russian infrastructure at a time where all skilled workers are working in the military complex
2.
- being done at a time when refineries already under strain because of sanctions (quality of spare parts, catalysts, etc.)
- Russia does not have ability to import products in the quantity to replace lost refinery capacity. The Russian system is designed to export not import
3. Ukraine has been restrained against Russian oil and gas until lately
- Both gas and oil pipelines running through Ukraine carrying Russian hydrocarbons have been untouched
- Ukraine not used their aquatic drones against tankers (full or empty) unlike success against warships.
Read 11 tweets

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