With West Asian tensions keeping oil elevated and aluminium at four-year highs, analysts are flagging sharply diverging fortunes for upstream explorers versus oil marketing companies, and a new commodity upcycle may be under way
OMCs squeezed; upstream explorers stand to gain
Geopolitical tensions in West Asia are the single biggest variable pushing crude prices higher, according to Bharat Subramanian, VP–Equity Research at BofA Securities. A lasting truce could ease prices, but without one, the rally is likely to continue.