Francisco Blanch Quotes (9 Quotes)

It's been a very warm winter in the U.S., so prices are pressed to fall as inventories build and demand slows down. I agree that growth in production capacity this year will be a bit higher than demand growth.

Oil demand in 2006 is going to grow quite strongly. There's very little spare capacity to deal with supply shocks. The market is still concerned that if we lose Iran, we're going to be in real trouble.

Four refineries may come back in the next two or three weeks. For another three or four refineries at least, we will probably have to wait for more than a month. We have seen some efforts by the U.S. government telling people not to buy gasoline if they don't need it, to conserve energy.

Once it gets really cold, you have both sides of the Atlantic bidding for the same gas. This winter we had a very cold period in November and December, and there was a lot of competition between the U.K., Spain and the U.S.

The attacks are a concern given Nigeria's importance as an oil-producing nation. It's a factor that will keep prices supported.

After the sharp rise in gasoline prices, we believe that crude and transportation fuel prices will remain at historically high levels for a prolonged period of time, reflecting a tighter global balance.

We've had the deepest refinery season in a very long time. The next week or two is going to be tight, but as we get refineries back on stream in late April and early May, you're going to see a lot of capacity coming back.

I agree that growth in production capacity this year will be a bit higher than demand growth. Still, the IEA always tends to be over-optimistic in terms of non-OPEC supply growth.

In hindsight, the decision to sell oil shares looks like a bad one.