Interesting news story from the end of last week.

Argus : - Q&A: Continental CEO says EIA forecast caps WTI
News - Argus Media

And Kemp/Reuters rebuttal...

Oil drillers, not forecasters, are responsible for WTI weakness: Kemp
COLUMN-Oil drillers, not forecasters, are responsible for WTI weakness: Kemp | Reuters

Personally I think Brent is reacting to international fundamentals that show the oil situation is tightening while WTI is reacting to middle america fundamentals that still show we have too much crude in the US. I suspect this is exasperated by the fact that Shale Drillers are selling/hedging Cal18 and Cal19 crude at $50.

SMCJB 

Personally I think Brent is reacting to international fundamentals that show the oil situation is tightening while WTI is reacting to middle america fundamentals that still show we have too much crude in the US.

No I'm not John Kemp in disguise...

WTI discount to Brent reflects logistics constraints: Kemp

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-crude-kemp/column-wti-discount-to-brent-reflects-logistics-constraints-kemp-idUSL8N1MH3XS

EIA :- Crude oil and petroleum product exports reach record levels in the first half of 2017

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=33372

I think there's pretty big R:R to the upside here. If CL can hold the 51.70, I see potential for 53.15. Curent price 51.87.

Was reading September: Commentary: Looking for balance in the oil market
and trying to see what this means for Q1 2018 and beyond.

In the meantime, we also see some very large hedge funds who are long Crude and crude exports are at record levels (but that was first half of 2017)

We see the 12 month Z7/Z8 spread has not moved past this year's highs
The 12 month Z8/9 and the Z9/Z0 spreads are at multi year highs

Looking at last year seasonally the spread rose between Nov and Dec and did not rollover really end of May
But last year was different as in the spread was at a low in early NOv before rising
The previous year i.e. Nov/Dec 2015 showed a different picture where the spread declined from Oct all through Dec

So what does all this mean? Trying to figure out if the Z8/9 spread is ready to rollover or not?

A lot of news over the last 24h coming out of SA.

First there was the thwarted missile attack, then the announcement of a series of very high profile arrests of certain key figures in an anti-corruption crackdown, then Donald Trump tweeted about wanting the Aramco IPO to take place on NYSE and more recently the helicopter crash killing several senior officials including Prince Bin-Muqrin.

You can read more here:

Future Saudi king tightens grip on power with arrests including Prince Alwaleed | Reuters

CobblersAwls 

A lot of news over the last 24h coming out of SA. First there was the thwarted missile attack, then the announcement of a series of very high profile arrests of certain key figures in an anti-corruption crackdown, then Donald Trump tweeted about wanting the Aramco IPO to take place on NYSE and more recently the helicopter crash killing several senior officials including Prince Bin-Muqrin. You can read more here: Future Saudi king tightens grip on power with arrests including Prince Alwaleed | Reuters

I too read today about this in a squawk

Quoting 

WTI and Brent crude futures have been tracking higher are currently hovering around levels last seen since July 2015 following reports over the weekend that the Saudi Arabian crown prince cemented his power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors

I wonder, how does that affect the price of oil?

xplorer 

I too read today about this in a squawk I wonder, how does that affect the price of oil?

Any instability makes the price rise

ch123456 

Any instability makes the price rise

Why, though?

It's not like Oil is a safe haven asset.