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World's Largest Oil Trader Says 'Painful Period' for Oil Prices is almost Over
Torbjorn Tornqvist, chief executive of Gunvor Group, the world's largest oil trader, said the painful period in the oil market may be about to pass, with analysts expecting oil prices to climb to 50 per barrel next year dollar level.Speaking at the Global Commodities Summit in Lausanne on Tuesday, Torveste said, "The era of market downturns is over. The oil market will experience more price fluctuations in the coming period, but the general trend is upward."
Oil prices have begun to rebound after falling to a 12-year low as U.S. oil production declines and the global oil oversupply trend gradually slows. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other oil-producing countries will hold a meeting in Doha on April 17 to discuss freezing production to stabilize oil prices.
In addition, Jeremy Weir, CEO of Trafigura, one of the world's largest commodity traders, said that global crude oil supply is expected to rebalance by the end of the third quarter of this year due to a cash shortage among oil producers. .
However, Alex Beard, head of oil at commodities giant Glencore, is less optimistic about the prospects for a recovery in the oil market, as the global market has lost more than 3 million barrels in the past 18 months. Crude oil and petroleum product reserves.
Traders agree that Iran's oil output will be slower than expected after sanctions on Iran were lifted in January. Ian Taylor, chief executive of Swiss oil trader Vitol Group, the world's largest independent oil trader, said that injecting capital into Iran to restart production is also difficult. Jimmy Weir, CEO of Trafigura, also said that “banks are still “concerned” about oil transactions from Iran as U.S. sanctions still exist.”
In 2015, oil refining was the main business of companies such as Vitol Group and Gunvor, and perhaps the business with the lowest profit margin in 2015. "The situation may be even more severe this year," Towist said.
