The real reason oil is below $100/bbl. It isn’t fundamentals. It’s capital aversion. Policy uncertainty has made oil too volatile to hold. Investor VaR has collapsed by c.$5B. Open interest is at the lowest level in years. Global oil stocks are still drawing 5-6mb/d; however, investors say they don't care.
Start with investor VaR - the best measure of how much capital is willing to engage with oil. It has collapsed to $1.4B (see chart). Not forced out by rising rates, sanctions or external margin calls. Investors are simply choosing not to hold. The policy noise - deal on/off, attack, not attack - has made the carry uncompensable.
VaR compression has one direct consequence: it drains open interest. Contracts are closed. Market depth disappears. 2026 YTD open interest decline is the worst on record. Unlike 2022, there’s no rates shock or sanctions forcing the exit. This is capital aversion.
Managed Money VaR and YTD OI Change
@KawczynskiDiana Thank you for this Diana. It can be tricky to find how our research and our work connects and has the ability to amplify POC voices, but the connections are 100% there! #ENVIR492
Feels good to be nearly done with #POEcapstone and #ENVIR492 but this does not mean that learning, educating, or spreading awareness stops. We are always growing, always changing. Our society has a loooong way to go.
I feel that my education makes me better able to engage with the unrest in our society right now. I am glad that my #POEcap along with other educational opportunities helped me to understand the connectedness of problems around the world #ENVIR492
If you're a PI and haven't reached out to your lab, why not? If you're a chair and haven't reach out to your dept, why not? If you're in any position of power, and you haven't said anything, why? Some say they don't want to say anything bc they don't want to make things worse.
We must continue to advocate for communities of color and use our environmental work to amplify non-white voices. So much of our work doesn’t matter if we ignore the inequity at large in our society #ENVIR492
I am proud of the work that I did for my #POEcapstone. As it comes to a close I feel stronger than ever that while specialized fields of research are important to continue, none of us can ignore the social fabric that our research exists upon #ENVIR492
@farmer_nat@bela8299 Yes! Thank you for your presentation @bela8299 I learned a lot from your research and all the resources you’ve shared during the capstone experience #ENVIR492
@KaitlynBirkhol2 Honestly, it’s a struggle. I don’t want to ignore what’s going on in the world to finish my synthesis paper, but it seems like that’s what I have to do to get it done #ENVIR492
NYPD officers just drove an SUV into a crowd of human beings. They could‘ve killed them, &we don’t know how many they injured.
NO ONE gets to slam an SUV through a crowd of human beings.
@NYCMayor these officers need to be brought to justice, not dismissed w/“internal reviews.”
@kszegar Yes, I was looking for a place to camp but most places are still closed. Ended up going on a nice hike yesterday though! These are some cool infographics. Thanks for sharing. #ENVIR492
@EsedgemoreUW Yeah I was wondering what this might look like too. It will be interesting to know when to start speaking as people can leave or come to a room whenever they want #ENVIR492#POEcap
I am interested to see how all of our poster presentations translate into this online format...hopefully all will run smooth but I do have to admit that I have my doubts. #ENVIR492#POEcap
Excited to finally share my capstone work this week! Tune in to the POE Capstone Symposium this Wednesday, May 27th from 4:30-6:30pm. Here is a small preview of what I will be talking about. #POEcap#ENVIR492