When crude oil containing organic chloride was pumped into a pipeline in the Russian town of Samara, few people would’ve imagined the far-reaching consequences.

Oil companies across central and eastern Europe rushed to halt pipeline shipments to avoid refinery damages and find alternative sources of supply.

It was the kind of policy announcement that at first sounds straight-forward, but quickly grows more complicated.

On April 22, the Trump administration announced it would not renew waivers that had been granted to eight countries allowing them to keep importing Iranian crude.

The US reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil sales in early November, but issued six-month waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.

One reason why oil prices have rallied in 2019 is the uncertain future for many OPEC member states.

Political and security crises have deepened or awoken in places like Algeria, Libya, Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia, creating a sense that big chunks of oil supply could be erased overnight.

Saudi Aramco’s international bond prospectus removed a layer of secrecy that has long shrouded the world’s largest oil company.

The 469-page document detailed Aramco’s revenue, profits, oilfield reserves and breakeven costs, all of which underscored the oil giant’s staggering size and efficiency.

What I was interested in was something else. Did Aramco reveal any information on its crude inventories?

Which region in the world do you think has had the biggest decreases in crude inventories so far this year?

Here’s a hint: Its biggest supplier is Venezuela. And the answer is...the Caribbean.

The Wall Street Journal reported March 22 that US sanctions have prevented Iran from exporting oil to Syria since January 2, down from an average of 66,000 barrels per day (bpd) during the last three months of 2018.

Without fresh imports from its major supplier, crude inventories in Syria have fallen.

It would have been impossible for anyone in the Houston-area to ignore the recent fires raging in nearby Deer Park, where storage tanks holding chemicals that go into making gasoline ignited March 17.

A thick blanket of black, acrid smoke hung over the area for several days creating a public health and environmental crisis.

The role played by oil inventories was once again in the news the last few days.

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid Al-Falih said Monday that the amount of crude in storage needs to fall before OPEC should consider lifting supply restrictions.

One consequence of Venezuela’s collapse has been the drawdown in crude inventories across the Caribbean.

Storage tanks began to drain more than a year ago and haven’t stopped. The imposition of US sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA in late January has only accelerated the declines.

Certain locations, like Aruba and Curacao, are nearly empty.

In the early morning of January 23, the northern wall of an open-pit copper mine collapsed in Spain.

Fortunately, no lives were lost, but the land slippage led owner First Quantum Minerals to suspend operations for a week.

When incidents occur, like this one at Cobre Las Cruces (CLC), the copper market is eager for information.

Libya’s largest oilfield came back online this week after having been shut for almost three months.

El Sharara has been at the center of an internal power struggle resulting in periodic shutdowns, most recently since December. We wrote about Sharara last month, which you can read here.

Oil prices have rebounded since late December on signs that OPEC production cuts are working.

That’s the conventional wisdom. But what exactly are those signs? And could it be traders are overlooking evidence pointing the other way?

The argument for stronger fundamentals is based partly on US crude inventories.

US stocks have increased, which is typical for this time of year because refineries take units offline for scheduled maintenance.