Kevin Norrish Quotes (53 Quotes)

It's moving up and down. We've got an erosion of the idea that there has been massive demand destruction while ... at the same time you have got some pretty mild weather on both sides of the Atlantic.

With global inventory still at extremely low levels and particular concern over low product and crude oil inventory in the U.S., there is little obvious sign of any significant weakness.

The market has given its verdict it's going to be above 60 for quite a long time.

Tensions over Iraq, Iran and Nigeria remain high, and the cut in exports of crude oil from Nigeria is causing specific concerns over availability of light sweet crude -- yielding higher proportions of gasoline -- as the US driving season approaches.

The strikes may further constrain Europe's already limited ability to export product across the Atlantic.

The U.S. is facing a major gasoline crisis and is starting from a nearly empty tank.

The morbidity of non-OPEC supply is a factor that is fuelling the rise in prices. Russian output growth has decelerated...with the year on year growth in output for July a sharp downshift from the...growth rate achieved in July 2004. The IEA sees Russian supply rebounding strongly in the rest of the year and into 2006. Their forecast is for Russian output to grow by 390,000 bpd in 2006, a very good recovery from the growth seen in the most recent monthly Russian output data. In all, the IEA view seems somewhat optimistic...

The peak period for hurricanes is usually from August to September, so the oil market is concerned about the risk of weather-related production losses over the coming weeks.

Ultimately, a battle for market influence between geopolitical factors and the flow of U.S. data is likely to be settled in favor of the former.

January has been very strong for crude and although February has grown less quickly, the overall picture for apparent consumption looks like it's probably roughly on-track.

Under normal conditions, that would be telling OPEC that a cut is necessary. With Nigeria losing about half a million barrels of production it makes it quite hard for them to justify it.

This is definitely not about buying up oil resources in order to ship the oil into China.

There is no obscuring the big picture of rapidly dwindling gasoline stock levels, accelerating demand and the growing likelihood of a supply crunch in the not too distant future. Geopolitical tensions also continue to prove a key driver behind the strength in oil prices.

US product markets remain extremely weak at present, with most of that weakness focused in gasoline markets.

There has been poor performance so far this year in the North Sea. The United States certainly is not coming back as quickly as people thought it would and Russia has been very, very poor, partly due to the cold weather.

My impression is that the price action is more to do with the data flow.

U.S. oil inventories have risen rapidly, relative to normal patterns over the last four weeks. At the level of politics and geopolitical risks, the shadows have continued to gather and darken.

The ability of the Nigerian government to guarantee security within the Niger Delta appears to be limited at this point in time.

India and China are big importers of crude oil, and they're both at the stage of their development where they're energy intensive, ... We have seen no pullback in demand in those countries, or in western countries --demand doesn't seem to be an issue that would help keep prices in check.

The statement fell short of an outright denial, leaving market fears free to grow.

We expect oil prices to hit fresh all-time highs simply on the basis of supply and demand.

Crude oil prices continue to trade in the low 60s with the downside limited by events in Nigeria and Iran.

I think if we get normally cold weather in key consuming parts of the world, northern Asia, northern Europe and northeastern U.S., that's going to be very testing.

If you start to layer in people's concerns and anxieties about what's happening in various parts of the world, there is a strong chance we'll have another test of the all-time highs, quite possibly sooner rather than later.

It's only a matter of time before geopolitical developments give the market another sharp tug. The chances of a benign settlement in coming months over the Iranian nuclear issue have receded in recent weeks.

Political expediency would argue for an increase in output, while commercial logic would argue that the pressure should be resisted when OPEC meets next week.

One question would be whether it would be necessary for an increase in production in order to make up for Nigeria. I have a feeling, they probably view that as a bonus.

This couldn't happen at a worse time.

The price is definitely going to 65 a barrel. That's not an earth shattering call to make now.

(Today) it is expectations of further substantial increases in U.S. oil inventory tomorrow that is holding sway.

After such a slow 2005 for Chinese oil demand an acceleration in growth looks highly likely in 2006 and this will exert further pressure on oil supply and prices.

The market's had a crack at 60 several times recently, but not looked at all convincing below that level. I just don't think there's the appetite to push it down there.

There is a strategic element to it. It's something that we've seen before. Japan was doing the same thing about 10 to 15 years ago, with a lot of its natural resource companies, including oil companies, buying into foreign projects.

Ever since Bush started building it up, he has made it clear that the reserve is there to be used if there are signs of severe supply disruption, not to act as a tool for managing prices,

A trade-off currently exists between market concerns over the escalation of tensions in Iran and the recent flow of poor fundamental data. Expectations of another set of poor weekly data in tomorrow's figures are contributing to an easing in crude prices.

The concern over gasoline availability coming into the second quarter is helping to keep crude oil markets relatively firm.

The catalyst for the move higher appears to have been the release of a weather forecast drawing attention to the likelihood of another cold winter, prompting a surge of buying interest in winter fuel markets on both sides of the Atlantic.

Under the wrong circumstances, you could easily see 80 being broken or even higher than that. Any major loss of production is going to give us another major push up.

Whilst the immediate impact on European energy prices has been negligible, the dispute has served to emphasize the dependence of Western Europe on Russian gas supplies and the issue has the potential to keep European gas consumers on edge for some time.

Gasoline inventories fell sharply thanks to falling imports, declining domestic output and strong growth in demand so far in April.

What we are seeing is not a function of the world running out of oil. What we are seeing is the legacy of a very long period where investment has been far too low. The problem is getting the oil out of the ground and delivering it to consumers.

You can't blame China for 70-a-barrel oil.

People have been on edge over Iran for some time now. This adds another layer of concern.

The 6.0-dollar rise in prices over the past three weeks seems to have been enough to rule out the possibility of an output cut this week.

News that four foreign oil workers held hostage by Nigerian militants have been released (was) helping prices to ease back a bit.

Car sales have been strong, the economy is still growing strongly and it seems to me very unlikely that in that environment you would get two consecutive years where oil demand doesn't really grow.

Weather continues to be the key short term factor determining energy price direction.

Nigeria remains the key short-term issue for us. In particular, the continuing erosion of the control of central government over the Niger Delta.

To use it to manipulate prices would be like a central bank trying to manage a run on a currency - it wouldn't work because it only has so much ammunition.

Iran matters more than is currently priced in and Iran's external relations remain the key wild card. We continue to see the situation as representing the major upside risk for oil prices this year.