In addition to the negative repercussions of hurricane Harvey, which heavily impacted the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production and petrochemical plants, global oil markets are facing disruptions from the Middle East. The market has not been focusing on geopolitical security issues lately, but over the coming months geopolitics is sure to become an increasingly important factor. Political instability and civil wars, particularly those involving OPEC member states, are far from reaching a conclusion. The market’s optimism about the heavily reported production increases of Libya, Iraq and Nigeria may be misplaced. Libya’s return to the market, with production reportedly breaking 1 million bpd while targeting 1.3 million bpd, could already be a thing of the past due to growing instability on the ground. Libya’s production increases, which have been questioned by insiders, have proven to be unsustainable due to fighting between militias and government forces in oil producing […]