• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 25 mins GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 3 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 5 hours If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 4 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 5 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 18 hours Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 4 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
OPEC Remains Upbeat About Oil Demand

OPEC Remains Upbeat About Oil Demand

OPEC remains optimistic that the…

Biden’s SPR Gamble Sparks Debate Over U.S. Energy Security

Biden’s SPR Gamble Sparks Debate Over U.S. Energy Security

The Biden Administration has significantly…

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge

The leading economics blog online covering financial issues, geopolitics and trading.

More Info

Premium Content

“Oil God” Andy Hall Shuts Down Main Hedge Fund

Back in December 2014, the start of the worst oil rout since the financial crisis claimed its first victim when 113 year old Phibro, then owned by Occidental Petroleum after its sale by Citigroup, liquidated in the U.S. after it failed to buy a buyer. Phibro, of course, was made famous or perhaps infamous (after his $100 million Citi bonus in 2008 prompted a Congressional inquiry) by its star employee, "oil god" Andy Hall. Yet while said god's employer Phibro, was liquidating and thus ending one of Hall's paychecks, Hall would continue managing his $3 billion hedge fund Astenbeck (of which Occidental owns 20 percent) where he worked in parallel.

At the time we wondered how long this oil permabull - who suffered tremendous losses in the ensuing two years - would last in an environment where oil prices refused to go up, and whether he "would blow up twice on the same trade." Turns out the answers, in reverse order, were "yes" and "about 2 and a half years", because moments ago Bloomberg reported that Hall is shuttering his main Astenbeck hedge fund:

- Oil trader Andy Hall is said to close main Astenbeck hedge fund

- Astenbeck master commodities fun II is said to lose 30 percent in 1H

As Bloomberg adds, Hall is closing down his main hedge fund "after large losses in the first half of the year" which amounted to almost 30 percent through June for his flagship Astenbeck Commodities Fund II.

Hall's liquidation comes less than three months after another famous oil bull, Pierre Andurand, liquidated his last remaining long positions, although it was unclear if he had also shuttered his hedge fund.



Ironically, it was less than a month ago that Andy Hall finally capitulated, admitting that the "facts changed", and warning that oil may not go up much from current prices in what was his bearish letter ever (full letter can be found here). This is what Hall concluded in his latest letter to investors:

Whereas it once seemed positions could be held with an eye to a longer-term secular appreciation, that is no longer the case. Indeed, the evidence is now in plain sight. Related: Barclays: Oil Prices To Drop This Quarter

Over the past year, the front month WTI futures contract has moved by double digits in percentage terms 10 times within a $40 - $55 band. This volatility has been accentuated by large financial flows into and out of the market by non-traditional investors and algorithmic trading systems. Attempting to capture just a percentage of those moves makes more sense than trying to ride what has turned out to be a non-existent trend, especially when contango inflicts a negative roll return on investors. The extreme volatility within a rangebound environment also argues for a more tactical and conservative approach to portfolio management.

Upon reading this, and seeing little further upside from their former "oil god", it appears that Hall's LPs decided they had had enough, and pulled their cash.

Oil, sending imminent liquidation, is down on the news.

ADVERTISEMENT



By Zerohedge.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • Citizen Oil on August 05 2017 said:
    There is no such thing as an oil God. The guy got lucky in 2008 and rode the wave. He didn't see the 2014 trend coming and assumed it was 2008 all over again. Until investors stop throwing money at these producers that are constantly losing money we are going to be under $ 50. I see some signs of it now, but you never know. Fracking has destroyed the NG market for the last 9 years, but oil is more of a global commodity so it's hard to tell they'll do the same for Texas tea.

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News