- WTI is up $2.18 to $39.25/Bbl, and Brent is up $2.13 to $41.40/Bbl
- Oil recovered from a three-week low, rising over 5% on Monday morning
- A labor dispute has reduced Norway’s output by 330 MBOE/d
- Markets were also buoyed after a member of Donald Trump’s medical team said the U.S. president could leave hospital as soon as Monday
- Offsetting production losses in Norway is Libya, where the OPEC nation has increased output to 300 MBbl/d
- A total of 169 oil workers off Norway are now striking after no deal was struck with producers before a midnight deadline (Bloomberg)
- The total amount of supply offline is about 330 MBOE/d
- The strike started last Wednesday with 43 workers at Johan Sverdrup and now 126 workers are striking
- Put skews for Brent and WTI steepened to the most bearish since May on Friday, with volatility surging
- Brent 2nd-month put skew rose to about 16.3ppt on Friday, the most bearish since May 8 (0.0ppt would be equal skew for a put and offsetting call)
- Put skew is where the price for a put is more expensive than the offsetting call
- This type of skew can make structures like costless collars less appealing
- Natural gas is up 22.6c to $2.665/MMBtu
- Baker Hughes gas rig count decreased by one rig, to bring the total gas rig count to 74
- The major gas basins, Marcellus and Utica, and Haynesville remained unchanged
- The CFTC reported that managed money net positioning has decreased further from its three-year high
- Long positions decreased by 7,084 contracts to total 273,861
- Short positions also decreased by 19,849 contracts to total 161,330
- Flows to LNG facilities increased to 8 Bcf/d over the weekend for the first time since hurricane Beta
- Feedgas flows to Cameron LNG reached 150 MMCf/d; No update has been provided yet on when the site expects to be fully operational, however dredging is supposed to be complete by October 8, 2020
- Cove Point LNG flows are still at zero, as seasonal maintenance continues
