Oil & Olive: A Tale of Two Liquids in the Ups and Downs of Prices
What a difference a week makes. The institutional money and hedge fund lemmings pulled a Jimbo Fisher and headed for the exits as oil prices took the elevator down last week. Prices are down nearly 20% from their September zenith. Already there are fake news protests coming from the members of OPEC+. Obviously not happy with the direction, the cartel’s honchos are insisting that oil demand is still resilient and that the price drop is being somehow manipulated. If one insists on peeling back the onion, turn to a quote by former NFL head coach Bill Parcells that says, “You are what your record says you are.” Results speak for themselves. The rest of the speaking we do is generally everything else. Captain Contango came back for an encore after being in hibernation since July, supported by increasing Cushing inventories and growing US production numbers that ignited the algo programmed trading. Watch that prompt spread closely as it feeds on itself! The next OPEC meeting is November 26. West Texas Intermediate crude settled Friday at $77.17 and down 4.2% for the week.
While it has been a less than remarkable season for the New England Patriots, the other team from Massachusetts – Global Partners – certainly scored a wicked good touchdown with its recent announcement that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Motiva to acquire 25 storage terminals along the Atlantic Coast, in the Southeast and in Texas. Global has agreed to purchase the terminals, with a shell capacity of 8.4 million barrels, for $305.8 million in cash. We look forward to some congratulatory handshakes at The Wall with our friends to the north on June 13, 2024 during another wicked pissa Mass Appreciation Day. It’s never too early to plan to attend!
Some oil prices are still climbing. Olive oil prices in Spain, Greece and Italy for extra virgin oil reached $4.35 per pound, more than tripling from their level in 2019. In Greece, a 1-liter bottle of extra virgin oil jumped from $8 to $9 last year to as much as $15 this year. Stock up, it goes good with labneh.
