Standard Chartered Dismisses ‘Phantom Barrel’ Theory, Sees No Hidden Surplus

Standard Chartered has shot down a rising Wall Street narrative that global oil markets are sitting on a hidden cushion of non-OECD crude, so-called phantom barrels. In its latest Commodity Roadmap released this week, the bank states there is “nothing in trade flows, time structure, or data flow” to support claims of invisible inventory builds, particularly in China or South Africa. The rejection puts StanChart at odds with macro-driven oil bears who argue that low OECD stockpiles are masking oversupply elsewhere. Instead, the bank’s…