Carlyle Group Chief Strategy Officer, Jeff Currie, has declared that the global oil market’s “illusion of abundance” has vanished, warning that the market has rapidly transitioned from a standard supply deficit into a structural energy shortage. According to the former head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, the real signal of a market deficit comes from refined product markets, where crack spreads have skyrocketed to an unprecedented $70 a barrel–a historic level wherein the processing spread nearly equals the price of the crude itself.
Currie says the perception of an oil glut was temporarily created by large inventory drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves of 32 IEA members, including the release of 172 million barrels of crude from the U.S. SPR. The fragile supply balance has been further exacerbated by various systemic bottlenecks, with the lack of sufficient buffers to absorb the supply shocks putting oil markets in a precarious position. Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain highly volatile, with recent U.S. naval actions and renewed retaliatory strikes by Iran causing crossings to plummet again after a brief recovery. Meanwhile, damage to many of Russia’s refineries has severely tightened global fuel supplies, cutting Russian crude processing to its lowest level since 2005 and wiping over 1.4 million barrels per day of refinery capacity from the markets. This has forced Russia to ban exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, driving up global diesel margins and leaving importers scrambling for alternative supplies.
The IEA has warned that global oil inventories are on track to plunge to historical lows due to an unprecedented supply shock ahead of the Northern Hemisphere’s peak summer driving and flying season. Global observed inventories crashed by over 250 million barrels between March and May, drawing down at an average rate of 3.8 million bpd since the start of the Middle East conflict. OECD government inventories have been aggressively depleted to cushion the market, dropping to their lowest levels since December 1990, while Strategic Reserve stockpiles in the United States dropped to roughly 316 million barrels following record drawdowns.
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
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