Last week was action-packed on oil markets, as traders are awaiting confirmation that OPEC and certain other producer nations will cut their output levels as agreed at the end of 2016.
Some of the news getting attention on markets last week:
British Columbia approved Kinder Morgan’s request to triple the capacity of its Trans Mountain pipeline in order to allow more oil sands petroleum to be exported to Asia, which is the only region in the world without sufficient natural resources and that is forecasting major growth in its consumption over the coming years.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falihnoted that the country has already reduced its production by more than the 486,000 barrels/day agreed upon in the OPEC agreement and is now pumping less than 10 million barrels/day. He also stated that the country is considering extending the agreement for another six months.
Petroleum inventory data released by the U.S. Department of Energy last Wednesday showed a significant increase of 13.4 million barrels for the week ended January 6. This was the largest weekly increase in a year.
Diesel prices in CAD/L benefited from the strength of the Canadian dollar over the past week. This situation has resulted in attractive levels to put in place hedging strategies.
