OIL Drop Causing other Damage

    I like the tanker play Matt!

    Op-ed: Recovering from this unprecedented oil crash could take years and may not benefit Saudi or Russian producers

    Some other issues are emerging this morning as the collateral damage being done is in the early stages of being tallied.

    Yesterday, the Financial Times reported that a Singaporean trader hid some $800 million in losses from oil trades gone sour. His counterparties include HSBC, Société Générale and ABN Amro.

    On Tuesday, there are reports that South Korean investors have recently loaded up in structured notes tied to the price of crude and are likely suffering large losses as the result of yesterday’s historic crash.

    Add to that, the likelihood of additional, and large, losses among hedge funds, domestic holders of leveraged oil exchange-traded funds, highly levered oil producers and a coming wave of bankruptcies among those same companies and the damage done to oil markets is far from over.

    ETF marketers are already suggesting they may, or will, halt trading in them or possibly liquidate them, causing a further cascade in the price of oil.

    In history, there are parallels but no precedents.

    In 1986, then Saudi Oil Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, decided to punish OPEC members who were not abiding by the cartel’s daily production quotas and taking market share from the Kingdom.

    To enforce discipline, the Saudis flooded world markets with crude, driving the spot price of oil to just below $10 per barrel.

    The damage to oil producing nations, including the U.S., was severe. Cities like Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City and elsewhere closed up shop, with large and small oil companies capping wells and going bankrupt and/or merging.

    The pain lasted for years.

    Walt, I just wanted to

    Posted by chadtech on 21st of Apr 2020 at 02:01 pm

    Walt, I just wanted to thank you for this thorough post.  Really informative and gives more perspective on something that looks like a complete disaster to an outsider.

    The ramifications from this has

    Posted by ssaffer on 21st of Apr 2020 at 01:45 pm

    The ramifications from this has not been felt yet.  States like Texas will be crushed at the loss of jobs from small rigs.   I bought TNK on monday and sold at the gap up this am.  Good play brought up here by Matt.  

    Just State revenue lost  from

    Posted by retirefire on 21st of Apr 2020 at 01:50 pm

    Just State revenue lost  from gasoline tax is crushing.

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