Why is Saudi Arabia doing this?

As of Weds am

WTI Oil Futures Curve 2 to 10 Months Out

CL2 $11.24 (-2.85%)
CL3 $20.29 (+8.56%)
CL4 $23.64 (+8.98%)
CL5 $25.52 (+8.92%)
CL8 $28.65 (+6.66%)
CL10 $29.86 (+5.18%)​

 

IB took losses on the oil contracts that were stuck. Positions could not be closed

" ... The price of the May 2020 contract dropped to an unprecedented negative price of $37.63. This price was the basis for determining the settlement price for cash-settled contracts traded on the CME Globex and also on a separate, expiring cash-settled futures contract listed on the Intercontinental Exchange Europe (“ICE Europe”).

Several Interactive Brokers LLC (“IBLLC”) customers held long positions in these CME and ICE Europe contracts, and as a result they incurred losses in excess of the equity in their accounts. IBLLC has fulfilled the firm’s required variation margin settlements with the respective clearinghouses on behalf of its customers. As a result, the Company has recognized an aggregate provisionary loss of approximately $88 million.

The Company does not believe that any anticipated losses will have a material effect on its financial condition."​

Interactive Brokers Issues Statement on Crude Oil Contracts and Margin Loss

 

Oil Rallies As Trump Orders Navy To "Shoot Down And Destroy" Iranian Gunboats

Rhetoric can be used as a bluff. It can also be used as propaganda to rally a nation in order to get support for war... or rescue an industry. Just sayin...

 

It can also be used to issue orders to destroy Iranian gunboats that harass U.S. Navy Ships.

 

Let’s speculate the orders are followed whether justified or not. What do you think would happen next?

 

With the May contract now gone, WTI +40%

 

If war breaks out with Iran it might go up 500%.

 

I guess it would blow the hell out of a few Iranians in their ridiculous "gunboats", and potentially turn Iran into a crazy dictatorship that sponsors terrorism throughout the world. Maybe not.

 

You are truly a visionary. Way to go out on a limb.

 

Okay Eeyore, tell me how it will end the world. I can't wait.

 

Is there any doubt that the Iranians are doing this? If so, I have no problem with Trump giving our Navy the discretion to do what they need to do.

 

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You go first for a change.

 

It won't end the world. It will f'up some Iranians, and make them reconsider poking the bear next time. Nothing else will change.

 

If that were true, Trump would have ordered a military response when Iran’s cruise missiles hit our base in Iraq in January.

 

Lol, you think they hit something?

 

Nah. The video images and 100 concussions admitted to by Trump was fake news.

 

I read Iran does this to make propaganda videos.

 

I heard separately this happen in Seattle too. They were called harbor rats. Not sure if this was a Russia issue, or it coincided with massive increase in container ship movements.

 

We called them commie rats in the 80s

 

I can see that. They want to pound their chests. Some people speculated Saddam projected nuclear capability just to keep Iran off their ***. A bluff.

 

Peak supply.

 

Scott Ritter sees war with Iran as the option to save US shale oil. The rhetoric for war is certainly there. With the economy in tatters, so is the urgency.

Will Trump go to war with Iran to save America’s oil industry?

 

I'm sure Pompeo wants to go to war. Maybe he is trying to convince Trump that war is necessary to jump start the oil industry. That would be foolish and evil at the same time.

 

So we killed one of the leading terrorists in the world, Soleimani, Iran fired missiles on a U.S. base that had been largely abandoned prior to the strike, and then Iran shoots down and kills a plane with 130 Iranian citizens. All Trump had to do after accomplishing the U.S. goal was to sit back and watch as the idiot Iranians killed their own people.

 

I'd much rather go to war with Venezuela as we could then put in a friendly government and get new factories going there. Argentina is another country that would be a good place to get a much better government in place, give prosperity to the people and help them develop a stronger economy. Plus, we stomp a hole in the Che Guevara myth.

 

I personally prefer Italy and Switzerland because they have great vacation spots. Plus, they're an easy win on the schedule, and we could get some young guys some experience.

 

War, for anything else other than defending your own people, is evil.

 

We’ve found ways to get around that.

Humanitarian wars. You get CNN, FOX, and others to point out how brutal the ‘regime’ is to its own people. After that, it’s ok to starve the targeted country economy and bomb the hell out of it (to free the people). After that, as Trump and Bolton advocate, you grab the oil so that it can be managed more effectively.

 

Mona,

You wouldn’t say that if you had ever been to Lake Como or Wengen.