From Twitter This Morning -- May 16, 2019

Twitter today:

• Venezula -- tick, tick, tick -- running out of motor fuel
• Brent crude oil futures rise more than a dollar in early trading: as high as $72.80; now at $72.89
• WTI, right now, 9:55 a.m. CT, May 16, 2019: up $1.06, up 1.71%, trading at $63.08; whoo-hoo!
• California gasoline tied directly to Brent (which trades about $10/bbl higher than WTI)
• higher Brent: due to fundamentals (supply/demand) or saber-rattling?
• long winter, severe winter: delaying housing construction season; negatively impacted PVC; PVC now inexpensive; could spur home building; spur consumer confidence
• Argus Media launches "new face" on twitter
• US crude oil reaching new destinations around the world as Chinese buying slowed
• richest county in North Dakota refuses to address school needs -- again
• those attacks on Saudi pipelines? funded by Iran; carried out by the Houthis
• crudehead: refining margins are going to get better and better
• Trump said to be annoyed with advisors pushing for armed conflict with Iran; Trump is said to be saying those advisors are getting way ahead of themselves
• Platts' take on rising US crude oil inventories: due to rising imports; imports did rise (and they rose significantly, but I have trouble believing that's the reason for rising US crude oil inventories -- rising imports). If so, more heavy oil needed to balance all that light oil showing up at the refineries; and, oh, by the way, now that the winter/summer switch is complete; maintenance is complete, refining capacity will increase from current 90% -- meaning, yes, refiners need to increase heavy oil imports -- so, I've talked myself into agreeing with Platts
• and, last but not least, the Houston Ship Channel re-opened to two-way traffic after wreckage removed; this "problem" was solved in almost record time; wow, I'm glad the USACE was not involved; they would still be putting together a group to study the wreck; point fingers

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OXY - Anadarko

Also from twitter: OXY-Anadarko: FT link here; data points --

• $56 billion gamble
• on the hot seat: Vicki Hollub
• three years on the job as CEO of OXY
• most ambitious move of her career
• Anadarko: assets around the world, from Texas to Mozambique
• will double the size of Occidental
• will also saddle OXY with debts of around $50 billion
• OXY's shares dropped to a 10-year low
• this is the deal: after 15 years into the shale revolution, investors across the US oil and gas industry want it to start paying off for them
• US acts like a "swing producer": a source of supply that can respond within months
• US shale: buffers Mideast tensions

From the linked article:

To win Anadarko, Occidental had to see off its larger rival Chevron, which took some swift manoeuvring, while the two companies had competing bids on the table. Ms Hollub flew to Omaha, Nebraska for a 90-minute meeting with Warren Buffett on April 28, securing a $10bn investment from Berkshire Hathaway that allowed her to rejig Occidental’s offer to include more cash, avoiding the need to put the deal to a vote of her own shareholders. 

Long, long article. Much more at the link. Archived.

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Screenshots from the FT article linked above on the OXY-Anadarko story: