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WTI Crude Higher Than Brent Crude For First Time Since July 2013

Tyler Durden's picture




 

From almost $30 differentials in 2011, today's bounce in WTI has pushed the Brent-WTI spread negative for the first time since July 2013 briefly (and August 2010 consistently). This is, as the chart below shows, more 'old normal' as pre-QE the Brent-WTI spread oscillated in a very narrow range...

 

WTI's bounce has pushed it above Brent today...

 

For the first time since July 2013 and August 2010...

 

Charts: Bloomberg

 

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Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:03 | 5655429 LawsofPhysics
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The big difference between now and 2008/2009 is the fact that there is absolutely no market for true price discovery, period.

 

We have entered the "soviet era" in the U.S., I expect the outcome will be no different.  Specifically, we will continue to hear about how things are "improving" and how there is "no inflation" as doing business and actually acquiring real goods and services becomes increasingly more difficult.  Eventually (just like the Soviet Union), productive people in productive states will tell D.C. to simply fuck off. 

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:04 | 5655435 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Eventually? hell I tell them daily.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:47 | 5655590 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

Maybe they might hear you if you were E. Warren. But you can see she gets no respect either.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 14:17 | 5656058 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

I didn't think I'd ever see WTI and Brent reach parity. The Saudi's are probably not to happy about it.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:12 | 5655468 Spitzer
Spitzer's picture

The USSR was also big on blaming the weather for everything. The Fed must be taking ques from the Soviet era to tweak this behavioral economics sham.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:03 | 5655439 Bernoulli
Bernoulli's picture

I am wondering: With WTI below 50 USD/barrel, is XOM still a 385 bn USD company or no?

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:20 | 5655501 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Survey says..... yes.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:29 | 5655544 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

in the US, cheap oil doesn't stop refiners... it makes them more profitable... exhibit A: Valero

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:06 | 5655450 Spitzer
Spitzer's picture

I called zee oil bubble maaaan... Now lets see if this Canada housing bubble with burst.

 

This was a comment I made on the FOFOA blog on June 6 2014 when oil was $102 a barrel:

I cant help but notice that everyone from Brazil to Russia to Canada to the US thinks that the oil market is immune to over supply. If you watch "The Prize", you will see that there was always an obvious business cycle in the oil market. When prices were up, oil companies would bring more supply to market and new oil companies would sprout up. Then, the market would become over-supplied and prices would would fall.
Everywhere you look, there is countries and companies discovering new oil and using capital intensive means to get at it. Everyone is becoming oil rich. Russia turned itself back into an empire overnight because of oil.
Everyone seems oblivious to the fact that oil is a commodity market like anything else and if it gets over-supplied, the price will have to come down. It always does. But ever since 2000, there hasn't been a state of over-supply in the market. I think we are way overdue for one. Who knows what form this oil bear market will take, with all the inflation in the world....Who knows how badly the inflation is screwing up the oil market.
Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:30 | 5655513 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

"business cycle"  -- how quaint.  Too bad these things have been thrown away in "modern eCONomics" along with terms like collateral and counterparty risk.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:37 | 5655569 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Mmmmm..... OK.  You get full credit from me on that one.  Timely call, but it wasn't a "permabear" theme you had been saying for 5 years straght, regardless of the price of oil.  Obviously, you got the direction right (though I doubt even you expected the magnitude).  And you remembered your own post and where to grab it again for a quote, which means you probably really meant it when you posted it.

Now do it again.

 

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 13:30 | 5655778 Againstthelie
Againstthelie's picture

That WTI no longer is cheaper than Brent, does that mean the shale oil oversupply is priced out, or that Europe is in more problems, or a combination of both?

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 14:22 | 5656085 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Europe is in denial right now, check back in three months or so when the ECB is shown to be lying through their teeth and the riots are in full swing.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:08 | 5655451 Alea Iactaest
Alea Iactaest's picture

Sorry, off thread. I'm scratching my head because the front pages of both CNN and CNBC have dropped stories about the IS/ISIS/ISIL hack of CENTCOM. I guess it's time for the next "2 minutes of hate."

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:08 | 5655453 wrs1
wrs1's picture

That might be due to some US oil getting exported now even though it's a very small amount.  On the whole though, the two are just numbers on a screen and don't represent any oil in particular, just some grade.

 

 

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:39 | 5655574 Wahooo
Wahooo's picture

Rigs shutting down, WTI becoming relatively scarcer.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:12 | 5655464 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Finally. WTI is top grade.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:11 | 5655470 Bernoulli
Bernoulli's picture

And now watch WTI and Brent prices plummet in a tandem mode.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:17 | 5655491 fockewulf190
fockewulf190's picture

A bit OT but whats up with Silver today?  Platinum, Palladium and Gold have all been clawing gains for a few bucks, but Silver continues to attack through $17, only to be smashed down below that level (three times so far today), but Silver is again on the warpath, blowing through $17 yet again and is now up over 3% at $17.10...well outpacing gold.  Anybody know whats up?

 

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:21 | 5655506 SmallerGovNow2
SmallerGovNow2's picture

i think you could answer your own question if you look over the past year silver has been hit much harder than gold.  the gold to silver ratio at 72 is way out of kilter and will IMO eventually correct itself...

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:20 | 5655509 agstacks
agstacks's picture

I am curious too.  Good thing we have those new collars to keep things orderly. 

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:20 | 5655507 Bernoulli
Bernoulli's picture

Anybody watching Dr. Copper? Crazy stuff...

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:27 | 5655531 fockewulf190
fockewulf190's picture

Hammered relentlessly.

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:32 | 5655550 Possible Impact
Possible Impact's picture

Just put it on the train tracks, Locomotive flattens it nicely...  ;)

 

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:26 | 5655525 Chad_the_short_...
Chad_the_short_seller's picture

Just bought some uco

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:27 | 5655535 Spungo
Spungo's picture

We should DDOS that investment watch blog asshole

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:49 | 5655599 franzpick
franzpick's picture

The Brent-crude relation notwithstanding, both are down 60 or whatever %, and deluded equity indices up 1%-plus again today aren't really going anywhere without accompanying action by the banks who are going to eat the oil default loan losses. Compare today's equity exuberance with one of bank indices BKS, up 1.1% earlier today and now almost negative:

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=bkx&insttype=&freq=1&show=&time=5

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 13:15 | 5655705 franzpick
franzpick's picture

BKX now minus 0.12% and off 1.3% for the day probably discounting the upcoming oil loan losses appropriately, but broad indices still up 1% aren't getting the problem into focus:

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=bkx&insttype=&freq=1&show=&time=5

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 12:51 | 5655613 ukspreads
ukspreads's picture

Since they're both tumbling, I would spin it the other way around

 

Brent is lower than crude for the first time blah blah blah...

 

Just a bit bored here today with the bullshit market

Tue, 01/13/2015 - 13:26 | 5655759 Ewtman
Ewtman's picture

WTI will find some support around these levels short-term, but long-term the trend is still down... way down.

 

http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/oil-light-sweet-crudeelliott-wave-upd...

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