Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Price changes for Thursday, October 22, 2020

 

Hi to all,

 

Here’s what I have for this Thursday’s price changes:

 

*Heating and stove oil show no changes this week.

*Diesel fuel shows an increase of 3/10ths of a cent a litre, and...

*Gasoline shows a drop of one cent a litre.

 

Market highlights

 

OPEC and OPEC+ meetings

OPEC and non-OPEC countries who agreed to production cuts several months ago met again this past week and agreed to -nothing.

     No decision on whether to increase output in the face of the covid-induced world economic slowdown was reached in two days of talks.

     OPEC+ members are afraid that any cut to production would hinder any economic recovery, while any addition to production would hurt oil prices in the face of world oil demand and consumption, hurting the various countries treasuries who have become heavily dependent on oil revenues.

     Saudi Arabia seems to be the most dependent on them , with the Saudi’s wishing for anything $50 US a barrel and better.

     The country was said to be over $29 billion in debt during the second quarter of 2020 alone because of low oil.

 

Twenty years ago this winter...

Go back to the fall/winter of 2000-01 and you may very well find the root of oil’s problems today.

    That fall and winter was the heaviest in recent memory, but was also marked by skyrocketing energy prices worldwide that saw countries, particularly in Europe, answering the call from their residents to address higher energy costs that put a lot of people on the border of energy starvation.

     In Canada, it was marked by a truckers strike because of high diesel prices, fuel surcharges and the start of energy rebate programs both federally and provincially.

    Government’s of the day sought to change it up and look for other sources of energy so they wouldn’t be so oil dependent, and the subsidization of alternate forms of energy research has gained speed ever since, to the point there may be no turning back, with carbon emission agreements now in place worldwide.

     My, how the world has changed...and in quick order!

 

Remember this word: Perovskite

It may very well be the next biggest alternative energy breakthrough, but the use of the mineral in the manufacture of solar panels may well prove to increase the performance of solar panels. That’s important because the performance brings down the costs of the energy produced by the panels.

     According to the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, perovskite solar panels are 66 percent efficient, well up as compared to older panels running at 25 percent efficiency.

     Some are calling it a game-changer that may very well soon take out coal as an energy source.

      Perovskite was first discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia in the mid 1830’s.

      https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Solar-Energy/Another-Major-Breakthrough-For-Solar-Energy.html

 

US EIA inventory data

Latest inventory results are in, and oil supplies have dropped again, this time by 3.8 million barrels.

     Gasoline also dropped by 1.6 million, while distillates were also down by 7.2 million barrels.

     US domestic production also went lower as producers still haven’t turned on the spigots after Hurricane Delta blew through the Gulf of Mexico.

 

That’s it for this week!

 

Regards to all!

 

George Murphy

Twitter @GeorgeMurphyOil  

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