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U.S. Shale Boom Masks Threats to World Oil Supply, IEA Says

The U.S. shale boom masks threats to global oil supply including Middle East turmoil, conflict in Ukraine and the difficulty of unconventional oil production beyond North America , the International Energy Agency said. “The global energy system is in danger of falling short of the hopes and expectations placed upon it,” the IEA said in its annual World Energy Outlook today. “The short-term picture of a well-supplied oil market should not disguise the challenges that lie ahead as reliance grows on a relatively small number of producers.” Global oil consumption will rise to 104 million barrels a day in 2040 from 90 million barrels a day in 2013, driven by demand for transport fuel and petrochemicals in developing countries , the report said. To meet that growth and replace exhausted fields will require about $900 billion a year in investment by the 2030s as oil companies develop fields from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kuwait Oil Minister Sees No OPEC Output Cut This Month

OPEC won’t cut its collective crude output when it meets this month and global oil prices will stabilize once the surplus is absorbed by the market, Kuwait Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said. OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, meets Nov. 27 to debate supply. The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has a production target of 30 million barrels a day, pumped 30.974 million barrels a day in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “I don’t think there will be any cut in the production,” Al-Omair said at a conference in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates . “We feel prices will settle down once surplus oil is absorbed.” Oil tumbled into a bear market this year as supply expanded from the U.S. to Libya . OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have resisted calls to cut output while Libya, Venezuela and […]

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The EIA’s International Energy Statistics 2

The EIA, a few days ago posted their International Energy Statistics . They publish lots of statistics here but on monthly basis I only follow their  production of world  Crude Oil including Lease Condensate . The data on all charts below is Crude + Condensate production through July 2014 and is in thousand barrels per day. World C+C production was up 168,000 bpd to 77,023,000 bpd. The high, so far, was in February at 77,409,000 bpd. Non-OPEC C+C was down 135,000 bpd from it high so far. It has been on a 9 month plateau high. World Less US & N-O Less US That surge upward in world C+C production was, of course all US production. Without US production Non-OPEC production is 1,365,000 bpd below the peak in November, 2010 and is currently below the level hit on November, 2003. World C+C less US is 2,069,000 bpd below the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Four Takes on OPEC Vienna Meeting: Output Cut Talk Builds

With less than three weeks to go before OPEC meets in Vienna and the selloff in oil showing few signs of letting up, speculation is mounting the group will take action to try to stem the decline. Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, gained 53 cents to close at $83.39 today and is down 28 percent from a high of $115.06 in June on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. West Texas Intermediate oil rose 74 cents to $78.65 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It’s down 27 percent from its June peak. OPEC said yesterday the world will need less of its oil for most of the next two decades than previously estimated as U.S. shale production grows. OPEC lowered every forecast for its crude through 2035 except next year. Here’s how four analysts across Europe and the U.S. see the Nov. […]

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OPEC’s Weak Links Feeling Pain That Shale Producers Seek

Here’s why the U.S. shale upstarts just might win a confrontation with Saudi Arabia as oil sinks: While the Arab nation is as flush with cash as ever, the finances of some fellow OPEC members are deteriorating quickly. Venezuela , for example, has burned through billions of dollars, leaving its foreign reserves near a decade-low, to stave off default. In Nigeria , officials are struggling to stem a selloff in the currency that has left it at a record low. Those financial strains have Venezuela calling for action to prevent further declines in oil prices while a Libyan representative said the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should cut its output target. When executives at American shale companies talk about having more staying power in a price war than some of the Saudis’ partners, these countries, along with places like Ecuador and Iran, are the key weak links in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC Cuts Most Demand Forecasts for Its Crude on U.S. Boom

Print Back to story OPEC, supplier of 40 percent of the world’s oil, cut forecasts for the amount of crude it will need to supply for most of the next two decades as the shale-energy boom in the U.S. lessens dependency on the group. Demand for crude from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may fall to a 14-year low of 28.2 million barrels a day in 2017, according to the group’s annual World Oil Outlook. That’s 600,000 a day less than last year’s report and 800,000 below the amount required this year. OPEC lowered every forecast for its crude through 2035 except next year, which will be higher than previously predicted. Still, Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri predicted prices will rebound next year. The group’s members face mounting competition in the U.S., where technological breakthroughs — hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling — have caused a surge in domestic production. Oil […]

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OPEC Head Tells Oil Market to Stop Panicking About Prices

Oil will rebound by the second half of next year as supply and demand don’t justify the recent collapse and prices are now low enough to threaten investment in production, OPEC’s Secretary-General said. While a report today from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut forecasts for crude it will need to provide for most of the next two decades because of the shale-energy boom in the U.S., Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said the group isn’t “panicking” amid this year’s plunge. “We’re concerned but not panicking,” El-Badri said at a press conference in Vienna today. “The price will rebound by the second half of next year. This situation of low prices cannot continue because if it continues, most of the investments will be stopped.” Brent futures have tumbled 28 percent since mid-June, a move El-Badri said was excessive given that supply and demand levels are “reasonable.” Ali al-Naimi , oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC’s Weak Links Feeling Pain That Shale Producers Seek

Here’s why the U.S. shale upstarts just might win a confrontation with Saudi Arabia as oil sinks: While the Arab nation is as flush with cash as ever, the finances of some fellow OPEC members are deteriorating quickly. Venezuela , for example, has burned through billions of dollars, leaving its foreign reserves near a decade-low, to stave off default. In Nigeria , officials are struggling to stem a selloff in the currency that has left it at a record low. Those financial strains have Venezuela calling for action to prevent further declines in oil prices while a Libyan representative said the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should cut its output target. When executives at American shale companies talk about having more staying power in a price war than some of the Saudis’ partners, these countries, along with places like Ecuador and Iran, are the key weak links in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Financial reserves of oil-producing countries vulnerable to depletion

4688 Votes Financial reserves of oil-producing countries vulnerable to depletion A specialized economist said that the financial reserves and surpluses of oil-producing countries are vulnerable to depletion in the event of continuing decline of global oil prices and with the pace of public spending remaining around the current high levels. Professor of economics at the College of Administrative Sciences, Kuwait University, Dr. Mohammed Al-Saqqa said in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Sunday that the economies of oil-producing countries (including Kuwait) are facing a real challenge represented in the growth of public spending without “control” to high levels amid the decline witnessed in oil prices in global markets approaching the level of USD 80 per barrel (bd). Al-Saqqa added that this growth in public spending resulted in the consequent rise in the minimum level of the price of an oil barrel, necessary to balance the budgets of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple