Markets
OPEC: United States leads in new oil production
Economists at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said they expected more oil from non-member states, with the United States leading the pack. OPEC in its monthly market report for February raised its forecast for supply from producers outside the group by 250,000 barrels per day for an expected full-year average of 1.4 million barrels per day. Most of those new barrels will come from the United States. OPEC economists attributed the increase in U.S. oil production to steady gains in the price of crude oil since the middle of last year. That’s triggered more work in exploration and production, not only in the U.S. shale oil sector, but also in the deep U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico. By the second half of the year, OPEC said it expected total U.S. oil production ...
Big Oil takes stage for post-austerity beauty contest
With years of austerity in their rear-view mirrors, the world’s biggest oil companies are locked in a beauty contest to lure investors with promises of growth and greater rewards. Royal Dutch Shell and Total are emerging as frontrunners after a three-year slump thanks to strong growth projections but Exxon Mobil, the biggest publicly traded oil company, has largely disappointed with a weaker outlook. Major oil companies slashed spending and cut costs after oil prices collapsed in 2014 and can now generate as much cash with crude at $50-$55 a barrel as they did when the price was around $100 earlier in the decade. Cash flow at oil companies in 2017 rose to its highest since before the slump, helped by the drastic cost cutting plans and a recovery in oil prices, and executives are once...
$28 Billion to be Spent on Asian Oil and Gas Projects
An estimated 50 oil and gas fields in South East Asia, with a collective four billion barrels of oil equivalent resources, will likely be approved for development during the three-year period from 2018 through 2020, according to industry analyst Rystad Energy. These fields will require $28 billion of capex from final investment decision (FID) to first production. The $28 billion is for greenfield opportunities available to 2020. Brownfield, maintenance and infill drilling activities at existing projects will consume more funds… Read Full Article Here: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/28-billion-to-be-spent-on-asian-oil-and-gas-projects
Shell profits soar after oil price bounce back
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has hailed a “strong” annual performance after profits more than doubled thanks to the surging cost of crude. The group posted underlying earnings of $15.8bn (€12.7bn) last year, up from $7.2bn (€5.79bn) in 2017. It said fourth quarter underlying earnings rose 140% to $4.3bn (€3.4bn). Shell shares fell 2% after its full-year figures. The group’s results have benefited as oil prices have risen past $70 a barrel for the first time in more than three years, boosted by supply curbs from oil cartel OPEC, a record run of declines in US crude inventories and a weaker US dollar. Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Shell, said: “2017 was a year of strong financial performance for Shell. A year of transformation, in which we showed we have what it takes to deliver a world...
![[VIDEO] Refinery maintenance ahead will weigh on the oil market](https://oilconvo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/104977847-3ED2-RND-DanielHynes-013018.600x400-1050x600.jpg)
![[VIDEO] Refinery maintenance ahead will weigh on the oil market](https://oilconvo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/104977847-3ED2-RND-DanielHynes-013018.600x400-80x80.jpg)
[VIDEO] Refinery maintenance ahead will weigh on the oil market
Daniel Hynes of ANZ says planned seasonal refinery maintenance in the next few months will reduce oil demand, but only as a temporary hit. Read Full Article Here: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/01/30/refinery-maintenance-ahead-will-weigh-on-the-oil-market.html
How bullish will be the oil and gas outlook in 2018?
The Oil & gas industry in 2018 received stimulus through upward oil and gas price corrections resulting in renewed interest in upstream investment. Downstream companies generated desirable returns to remain in the hunt for growing business. Oil price showed less volatility in 2017, presented rising signs primarily owing to production cuts of around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) by both OPEC and some Non-OPEC producers.Moody’s and S&P predict average oil price to be around $55 per barrel (b), whereas Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are predicting Brent price to be $62 and $60 per barrel in 2018. EIA forecasts Brent spot prices to average $57/b in 2018, up from an average of $54/b in 2017 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices… 62 Read Full Article Here: ...
US Oilfield Service Firms Dust Off IPO Plans As Oil Prices Surge
U.S. oilfield service companies are gearing up for IPOs, according to regulatory filings and analysts, after several shelved equity sales last year during a weak period for oil prices. Oil is trading near its highest level since early 2015, fueling demand for service firms to bring new shale wells to production. Energy executives surveyed last month said they would increase drilling sharply at prices above $60 a barrel (bbl). Crude recently traded at about $61.50/bbl. Investors’ appetite for the shares will be tested soon. Liberty Oilfield Services Inc., which provides hydraulic fracturing services to shale producers, last week filed… Read Full Article Here: https://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/us-oilfield-service-firms-dust-ipo-plans-oil-prices-surge-1677266
Shell Looks To Shale Production For Rapid Growth
The growth of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (NYSE: RDS.A) oil and gas operations in the next decade will depend on shale production, its chief executive has said, in the latest sign of western energy groups pinning their hopes for expansion on those unconventional resources. Ben van Beurden told the Financial Times that he saw chemicals, electricity and biofuels as key sectors for Shell’s long-term future, as he positioned the company to face tightening constraints on burning fossil fuels. But he was also planning for growth in Shell’s traditional core oil and gas production business, focused on shale reserves in the U.S., Canada and Argentina. Depending on how oil prices looked in the 2020s, he said… Read Full Article Here: https://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/shell-looks-shale-production-ra...
Texas oil trade group sees investment pickup in 2018
A trade group in Texas said 2018 looked good for the oil and gas business, with investments trickling down to the coastal and manufacturing sectors. Texas is the No. 1 oil producing state in the country and home to some of the most lucrative shale basins, notably the Permian reservoir. The state’s economy was hobbled by the downturn in the energy sector that hit bottom in early 2016. In a survey for fourth quarter 2017, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said Hurricane Harvey, which hit the largest density of refineries on the southern Gulf Coast in late August, caused $70 billion in direct damage and left around 22,000 people without a job. Read Full Article Here: https://www.upi.com/Energy-News/2018/01/03/Texas-oil-trade-group-sees-investment-pickup-in-2018/7071514978556/
U.S. oil production booms as new year begins
Shale oil drilling has erased memories of long gas lines in the 1970s. U.S. crude oil production is flirting with record highs heading into the new year, thanks to the technological nimbleness of shale oil drillers . The current abundance has erased memories of 1973 gas lines, which raised pump prices dramatically, traumatizing the United States and reordering its economy. In the decades since, presidents and politicians have made pronouncements calling for U.S. energy independence. President Jimmy Carter in a televised speech compared the energy crisis of 1977 to “the moral equivalent of war.”… Read Full Article Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/us-oil-production-booms-as-new-year-begins/2017/12/31/de49b50e-ee50-11e7-b3bf-ab90a706e175_story.html
Northern Oil and Gas (NOG) Jumps: Stock Rises 9.4%
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc.NOG was a big mover last session, as the company saw its shares rise more than 9% on the day. The move came on solid volume. Read Full Article Here: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/northern-oil-and-gas-nog-jumps-stock-rises-94-cm899035
Oil and gas supply disruptions ripple around the world
CALL it the hydrocarbon equivalent of the butterfly effect. As oil and gas supplies tighten during the northern winter, disruptions as remote as a hairline fracture on a piece of Scottish pipeline, and an explosion in an Austrian natural-gas plant, have repercussions felt around the world. Start with the pipeline. After Ineos, a chemicals company, detected a growing crack on a piece of pipe near Aberdeen, on December 11th it said it would shut the main Forties pipeline carrying North Sea oil and gas to Britain for weeks… Read Full Article Here: https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21732557-tight-markets-and-wintry-weather-exacerbate-problem-oil-and-gas-supply