Fuel Buyers Summit: Where are oil markets headed after pandemic disruptions?

BIO: Stephen Jones is senior vice president of oil markets strategies at Argus and is based in Houston. He leads engagements with industry stakeholders on strategic matters related to market fundamentals, regulatory developments and price factors across the petroleum sectors. Jones joined Argus in 2017 as manager of the Americas Oil Markets Business Development team and became the global head of oil products in 2018, where he was responsible for Argus pricing solutions for the rapidly changing trading requirements for gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, marine fuels, base oils, asphalt, refinery feedstocks and biofuels markets. Jones has expertise in all aspects of the energy business, having served clients for 34 years in the industry. Prior to Argus, he was with Purvin & Gertz and IHS Markit for 17 years, where he was vice president of the refining and marketing team. 

KEY QUOTES FROM JONES: 

“The reason why we haven’t seen investment going back into the oil patch in the U.S. is that production was growing rapidly and all the earnings that the production was generating was being turned back into drilling more, increasing growth, as opposed to returning cash to investors.”

“Since so many investors got burned from that price drop, the requirements now that so many investors have for that sector is merely to return the cash to the shareholders, as opposed to investing in more drilling.”

“Our view is that OPEC has spare capacity that will meet the increased market demand in the next year, and prices are likely to soften.”

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