[SMM News] Tropical Storm escalates to Hurricane endangering US crude Oil production

Published: Sep 13, 2020 19:02 (GMT+8)

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A tropical storm off the coast of Florida is expected to upgrade to a hurricane on December 12, with maximum sustained winds of 129 kilometers per hour, bringing strong winds, waves and flooding to the Gulf Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. At present, oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States are beginning to evacuate offshore facilities.

SMM9: the coastal tropical storm in Florida is expected to upgrade to a hurricane on the 12th, with maximum sustained winds of 129km / h, bringing strong winds, waves and flooding to the Gulf Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. Oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico began to evacuate offshore facilities, and Chevron and Murphy Oil began to evacuate workers from offshore oil and gas platforms on the same day. Royal Dutch Shell, BHP Billiton, BP and Hess said they were monitoring the storm and waiting for action.

Oil prices have fluctuated at low levels after the recent sharp fall in oil prices, because the market believes that due to sharp price cuts in Saudi Arabia and the rise in novel coronavirus cases in some countries, the demand outlook is bleak; crude oil inventories have risen unexpectedly, and traders have increased their offshore storage space. Global crude oil supply is still in a state of oversupply. The current peak driving season in the United States will end in September, car trips will fall again later, demand will be further reduced, analysts are still not optimistic about the short-term oil price performance.

According to a report released by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission ((CFTC)) on Sept. 11, crude oil bulls are willing to cool down, with the speculative net bulls of crude oil falling by 41549 to 449366 contracts, indicating that investors are willing to be bullish on crude oil.

At a time when there is a general oversupply in the oil market, a temporary suspension of production should be a positive thing as a whole. But only two crude oil producers are retreating at the moment, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to boost oil prices significantly. SMM will continue to monitor the impact of hurricanes.

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