Category:

US rig count up 12 to 1,883

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose 12 this week to 1,883. The Houston firm said Friday in its weekly report that 1,562 rigs were exploring for oil and 318 for gas. Three were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,776 active rigs. Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Louisiana gained six, California, New Mexico and Oklahoma were each up four, and West Virginia increased by one. Alaska lost three rigs, Pennsylvania and Texas were down two apiece and Ohio was off one. Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming were unchanged. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

IEA Oil Market Forecast: Optimistic Assumptions And An Economy Unable To Grow Out Of Its Problems

The International Energy Authority (IEA) forecasts a yearly increase of 1.3% in global oil demand during the period 2013-2019. This contrasts with the assumption of global economic growth rising from 3.6% in 2014 to around 4% thereafter [1] . How does a 1.3% increase in oil usage support economic growth of about three times that amount? The oil intensity of growth has been decreasing over time, with global oil intensity falling from  1:1 (a 1% increase in global oil consumption required for each 1% of global economic growth) to a ratio of 0.75:1, between 1995 and 2009 [2] . An extrapolation of that trend would result in an average oil intensity of about 0.65:1 during the 2013-2019 time period, with 1.3% growth in oil demand driving about 2% global economic growth. The IEA […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Peak Oil: Reality Checks From The Desert

Someone (Rock?) said refiners weren’t investing in the shale boom. Interesting that today storis come out that Exxon is considering adding 400,000 of fresh refining capacity (new distillation train, not a debottleneck) to Beumont. Upgraded refinery will be 750,000 bpd capacity and largest in the country. Also, a small refinery going in in ND and several small shuttered plants in the Rocky Mountains are being reopened. Pipeline prjects are going in all over the country too. Peope with $$ showing they believe.

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

WTI Set for Weekly Drop Amid Rising Fuel Supplies; Brent Steady

West Texas Intermediate headed for the third weekly decline this month amid speculation that rising U.S. gasoline stockpiles signal reduced demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was steady in London . Futures were little changed in New York after falling 1 percent yesterday. Gasoline inventories climbed to the highest level since March, while crude supplies dropped for a fourth week, Energy Information Administration data showed on July 23. President Barack Obama said he expects the downing of the Malaysian Air jet in Ukraine to push European nations toward tougher sanctions against Russia . “U.S. refineries are clearly turning more crude oil into refined petroleum products at present than is actually needed,” Carsten Fritsch , an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt , said by e-mail. “The build in gasoline inventories significantly exceeded expectations. Besides the increase in production, this was also due to weaker demand.” WTI for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil price slips below $102 a barrel

The price of oil slipped below $102 a barrel on Friday, falling for a second day after spiking on lower U.S. inventories and tensions in the Ukraine and the Middle East. Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was down 10 cents to $101.97 at 0555 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.05 to close at $102.07 a barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, rose 13 cents to $107.20 in trading on the ICE exchange in London. Lower-than-expected U.S. crude inventories in a weekly Energy Department report had driven prices up on Wednesday, but expectations of stronger growth in demand were later countered as gasoline supplies were nearly three times larger than predicted. Still, the price of oil has stayed above $100 a barrel after a civilian jetliner was shot out of the sky last week over a part […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural-Gas Prices Climb on Smaller-Than-Expected Add to Inventories

Natural-gas futures prices closed up for the first time in a week after a weekly U.S. stockpile report showed a smaller surplus than expected. Prices for the front-month August contract settled up 8.5 cents, or 2.3%, to $3.847 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the market’s largest gain and its first gain of more than 2% since June 12. Producers added 90 billion cubic feet of gas to storage in the week ended July 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The addition was 6 billion cubic feet less than analysts and traders had expected and nearly double the five-year average for that week of the year. Tepid demand and record supply have combined to drive a broad selloff in the past month, shrinking the price of front-month gas by 20% since mid-June. Analysts said Thursday that the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

NYMEX August gas futures close 8.5 cents higher on storage report

The NYMEX August natural gas futures contract closed 8.5 cents higher at $3.847/MMBtu Thursday, a slight reversal from its recent decline after a mildly bullish weekly gas storage report showed injections below expectations. For the week that ended July 18, the US Energy Information Administration reported an injection of 90 Bcf. Analysts had expected an injection of between 94 Bcf and 98 Bcf. While the move higher came in response to the EIA report coming in below expectations, the data was bearish overall historically as the injection was almost double both the 43 Bcf build in the same week a year ago and the 46-Bcf five-year average. "We got a little bit of a pop after the number came out," Price Futures Group senior analyst Phil Flynn said. "The selloff had been priced in and now we’re going to get some of that back." Flynn cautioned that the gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

IMF Cuts 2014 Global Forecast After Slowdowns in China, U.S.

The International Monetary Fund lowered its outlook for global growth this year as expansions weaken from China to the U.S. and military conflicts raise the risk of a surge in oil prices . The world economy will advance 3.4 percent in 2014, the IMF said, less than its 3.6 percent prediction in April and stronger than last year’s 3.2 percent. Next year growth will be 4 percent, compared with an April forecast for 3.9 percent, the fund said. “Global growth could be weaker for longer, given the lack of robust momentum in advanced economies” even as interest rates stay low, the IMF said in an update to its World Economic Outlook report. “ Monetary policy should thus remain accommodative in all major advanced economies.” The IMF report reflected a world rattled by geopolitical risks that have risen since April, including the potential for “sharply higher oil prices” because of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

OPEC REVENUES FACT SHEET

OPEC net oil export revenues The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that, excluding Iran, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned about $826 billion in net oil export revenues in 2013. This was a 7% decrease from 2012 earnings, but still the second-largest earnings totals during the 1975-2013 period for which EIA has tracked OPEC oil revenues. OPEC earnings declined largely for two reasons: a drop in OPEC oil production in 2013 (largely because of the supply disruption in Libya), and a 3% decline in average crude oil prices (as measured by the Brent crude oil price marker). Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $274 billion in 2013, representing approximately one-third of total OPEC oil revenues. On a per capita basis, OPEC (excluding Iran) net oil export earnings reached about $2,520 in 2013. These net export earnings do not include Iran’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iraq Parliament Chooses New President, as Rebel Attack Kills 60

Iraqi lawmakers elected a new president on Thursday, hours after an attack on a prisoner convoy just north of the capital left dozens dead in murky circumstances. The violence illustrated the challenges facing the country’s politicians as they debate the thornier question of who will become prime minister. Iraqi security officials said the convoy was escorting prisoners from a high-security prison in Al Taji, about 15 miles north of Baghdad, when it was attacked just after dawn. The area is populated mainly by Sunnis, and the prison’s inmates are mostly Sunnis being held on terrorism charges. In a separate incident, two car bombs ripped through Karrada, a usually bustling district in central Baghdad packed with shops and restaurants, as families gathered to break the Ramadan fast at dusk on Thursday. At least […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple