Uncertainty, and risk-taking, to persist

摘要

Crude market uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is unlikely to abate soon, the Argus Crude Live virtual conference heard on 27 January. The volatility in fat crude prices, structure and diferentials, as well as diverging products demand and oscillating freight rates, rendered trading with any meaningful certainty almost impossible last year, the managing director of Austria’s OMV Supply and Trading, Vladimir Langhamer, says. And this will remain a theme in the coming months, he says. “There was more risk-taking needed [last year] because not all parts of the equation were hedged or se-cured… and I think this is something that will stay because every element will react violently to readjustment,” he says.