So far, every single day in August has seen a day-over-day decrease in oil prices, with Monday’s stock selloff seeing ICE Brent drop to an 8-month low of $76.30 per barrel.
Yet beyond the panic and confusion, some semblance of recovery might be on the horizon for crude, with Libyan production disruptions and Middle Eastern tensions potentially adding some bullish momentum. Hedge funds and other money managers turned bearish on commodity futures for the first time since 2016 as fears of economic slowdown dent investors’ trust that there is a bright future for raw materials over the next months.
The world’s largest oil producer Saudi Aramco pledged to pay out a record $124 billion in dividends this year, despite a 3.4% year-over-year drop in net profits to $29 billion. Amin Nasser, the chief executive of Saudi national oil firm Saudi Aramco, said this week he expected oil demand of 1.6-2 million b/d in the second half of this year, saying that fundamentals don’t support the current weakness in prices.
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