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Fuel oil trend

Rotterdam: $ 4 lower. Singapore: $ 5 lower. US Gulf: $ 0 higher.

Hurricane winds affect North Sea production – slightly (Brent: $111.1)

As hurrican winds hit the North Sea, workers at several oilfields were evacuated. Oil production in the North Sea was affected by maximum a couple of hundred thousand barrels. As the storm peaked Thursday night and is expected to cool off during today, we do not expect a major impact on oil prices.

Shale oil production affected

The weather also hit American shale oil production. Freezing temperatures and large snowfalls have partly halted production in North Dakota and western Texas. An overview of how much production has been affect is not yet available. The fields in question are however producing 1.3mbpd, so if the freezing spreads it could have a direct impact on oil prices.

Recommendation

We are heading towards year-end and traders will likely start reducing positions - as they do every year. Lower liquidity is expected to set in over the next few weeks, and potential outliers in prices could emerge as a result (as it takes relatively smaller orders to impact market direction). Costumers are advised to take advantage of these outliers, as the market usually returns to "normal" shortly into the New Year.