As the year 2020 wears on, it seems that every month brings a new surprise. In August, in addition to the ongoing pandemic and protests, a major hurricane was added to the mix. What comes next is anybody’s guess. A zombie apocalypse? An alien invasion? At this point, the possibilities seem boundless. And the energy industry has been no stranger to this year’s turmoil, what with COVID-related demand destruction, an oil-price collapse, and production shut-ins. Amidst the chaos, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that for the first time, private-sector energy companies would be allowed to store crude oil in the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which resulted in the leasing of 23 MMbbl of capacity. Recently, those volumes have begun to be drawn back out. Today, we examine the factors influencing movements of crude oil into and out of the U.S. SPR.
RBN is pleased to announce that today’s blog is the winning submission in our first-ever blog writing competition held for students in Texas A&M’s Trading Risk & Investment Program (TRIP). For more about the contest and links to other top entries, click here.
April was quite a month for crude oil, complete with the price of WTI dropping to unprecedented levels — even going negative for a day, as we discussed in One Way Out. Even before the bottom fell out though, in early April, the DOE was scrambling to cope with the fallout of the OPEC+ price war and rapidly deteriorating global crude demand due to COVID (see Things That Matter). In an attempt to stymie further price shocks and stabilize the market by absorbing some of the oil glut, the Trump administration directed the Secretary of Energy, Dan Brouillette, to fill up the SPR. To comply, the DOE announced on April 2 that it would lease up to 30 MMbbl of crude storage space in the SPR to private energy companies for the first time. It was a stunning decision to many in the industry; however, given the abundance of unceasing surprises which have occurred this year, this action was quite fitting with the what’s-next uncertainty that has ensued in 2020.
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About the song
“I Want to Break Free” was written by Queen’s bassist, John Deacon. It appears as the second song on side two of Queen’s 11th studio album, The Works. Released as the second single from the album in April 1984, the song went to #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. Four different versions of the single were released. The video for “I Want to Break Free” was a parody of the long-running British television soap opera, Coronation Street, featuring the members of Queen dressed as women. MTV banned the video as they considered it too controversial. Personnel on the record were: Freddie Mercury (lead and backing vocals), Brian May (electric guitar), John Deacon (bass, acoustic guitar, synthesizer), Roger Taylor (drums), and Fred Mandel (synthesizer solo).
The Works was recorded between August 1983 and January 1984 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles and Musicland in Munich, Germany. The title of the album comes from a comment Roger Taylor made as they started recording it. Referring to the fact that the record would be a combination of old-style Queen hard rockers and newer-style Queen electronic synth-pop, he said, “Let’s give them the works.” The Works was produced by Queen and Reinhold Mack and was released in February 1984. It went to #23 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Four singles were released from the album. It has been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Queen is a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by singer Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon. May and Taylor had previously played together in the London-based rock band Smile. Queen has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and has released 15 studio albums, 10 live albums, 15 compilation albums, two soundtrack albums, two EPs, and 73 singles. The band has won four Brit Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and UK Music Hall of Fame. Brian May and Roger Taylor have continued to tour with supporting musicians as Queen. The band has featured both Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert as their lead vocalist since the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991. Founding member John Deacon retired from the band in 1997. Queen, with Adam Lambert on lead vocals, last appeared live at five concert dates in Japan in February 2024.
