Hess CEO Sees Global Oil Supply Crunch Looming

03/06/17 •lweb.es/f2714 •bit.ly/2okjF1o

Oil, Shale, suppliers, World

A significant, years-long oil supply crunch may be approaching due to insufficient investment in exploration and production, Hess CEO John Hess said at the IHS CERAWeek, and this will begin showing up in declining offshore supply. He added that “The shale business is back in business and starting to grow again,” but such growth in US shale would not be enough to meet global oil demand, which the International Energy Agency has projected to grow between 1.4-1.6 million barrels a day over this year and the next.

Saudis Defending Sales Against Rising U.S. Exports

03/06/17 •lweb.es/f2713 •bit.ly/2oOa8ks

Asia, markets, Oil, prices

Saudi Arabia has cut the pricing for some of its April oil sales to Asia, showing that it is trying to lure buyers toward its lighter and less sulfurous crude varieties. “This came as a complete surprise to the market,” said Tushar Tarun Bansal, director at Ivy Global Energy in Singapore. “This is a signal from the Saudis that they are serious about market share and pricing crude competitively, and would even be open to changing the methodology if the need arises.” This is the producer’s latest effort to defend sales in Asia.

India-Gulf Cooperation Council: Delhi’s Strategic Opportunity

03/05/17 •lweb.es/f2642 •bit.ly/2nWdPAm

energy, India, Middle East, Oil

Ties between the Gulf and India stretch back several millennia. Until the last decade or so, the relationship was still being driven almost exclusively by economic interests: energy trade and migrant labor. Now, however, the agendas of rising powers like India and China are expanding, including in the Middle East. Specifically, India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ties will be among the most important relationships for both sides in the coming decades. The emergence of several factors is forcing New Delhi to consider the strategic aspects of those ties…

Southeast Asia’s Oil & Gas Sector: Opportunities For Growth

03/13/17 •lweb.es/f2708 •bit.ly/2oO44IK

employment, gas, Oil, Southeast Asia

According to Rigzone’s Ideal Employer Survey the top three attributes that oil and gas professionals value most in an employer are “a commitment to health and safety”, “competitive salary” and “positive organizational culture”. With respect to the “ideal employer”, the first three rankings go to Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, both globally and in the Southeast Asia region. Southeast Asia has suffered with the global oil glut but it still has opportunities for growth. InvestKL, for example, is working closely with PETRONAS to help attract large global multinational oil and gas companies.

Canada’s Oil Sands: Big Energy Producers’Achilles Heel

03/02/17 •lweb.es/f2646 •bit.ly/2ocvx54

Canada, Oil

The oil-sands operations in northern Alberta are among the costliest types of petroleum projects to develop because the raw bitumen extracted from the region must be processed and converted to a thick, synthetic crude oil. These operations have been particularly hard hit by the worst oil slump in a generation. Exxon and Conoco, for example, have removed a combined 4.65 billion barrels of oil-sands crude worth $183 billion from their books. Under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, proved reserves can only include oil and gas fields that can be produced economically within the next half decade.

$70 Billion Each For Shale Plays And Offshore Projects This Year

lweb.es/f2650 02.20.2017

Investments, Offshore, Oil, Shale, USA

For every dollar invested this year in North American shale plays another dollar will be allocated for planned projects offshore racking up spending of $70 billion in each sector, analysts at Rystad Energy said: “Offshore projects that were uncommercial at $110 per barrel in 2013 are now commercial at an oil price of $50 per barrel.” However, Rigzone Data Services said offshore investment declined 30-35% in 2016 and offshore capital expenditure is expected to decline for the current year. According to Diamond Offshore, it’s difficult for deepwater operators to compete with the unconventional space.

CNPC Buys Stake In Abu Dhabi’s Largest Oil Concession

lweb.es/f2652 02.19.2017

Asia, Middle East, Oil

China National Petroleum Corp. bought a stake in Abu Dhabi’s largest oil concession as the Middle Eastern emirate with 6% of global crude reserves looks increasingly to Asia, its biggest market, for investment to raise output capacity. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. awarded CNPC an 8% stake in the onshore venture. “If you’re Abu Dhabi and looking for demand growth, China is the future and its demand is going to continue to grow”… “For the big buyers in Asia, the logical source of that future supply is the Gulf,” said Amereller Legal Consultants.

India Steps Up Efforts To Boost Domestic Oil And Gas Production

lweb.es/f2658 02.17.2017

gas, India, Oil

Following its first oil and gas field auction in six years India has decided to award the bulk of the operating licenses to new players. The operating licenses are for 31 contract areas comprising 44 oil and gas fields and have been awarded under a revenue-sharing model. These contract areas would monetize 40 million metric tons of oil and 22 billion cubic metres of natural gas over 15 years for the Indian government. India’s oil demand growth will outpace China‘s for the third year in a row in 2017.

T. Boone Pickens: True Energy Independence For America

lweb.es/f2654 02.17.2017

Oil, USA

Oil expert T. Boone Pickens says that America is in the midst of an energy renaissance, and President Donald Trump will have the opportunity to set the nation on a course toward self-sufficiency: “We are still a long way from securing our nation’s energy future and are not without risk of failing” he states. “I suggest President Trump pursue an energy plan with two parts. The first part is to not screw up what we have going for us. The second part is to not settle for what we’ve done so far.”

Norwegian Barents Sea Drilling Set For Record

lweb.es/f2660 02.15.2017

Norway, Oil

Explorers look set to drill a record number of wells in Norway’s Arctic waters this year. The Norwegian Barents Sea may contain as much as half the country’s unexplored resources, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The remote area off the country’s northern tip enjoys the benefits of the Gulf Stream, meaning that unlike the rest of the Arctic, it’s largely ice-free. The prospect that industry observers will be watching most closely is Statoil’s Korpfjell well near the Russian border. It could contain as much as 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Oil Price Uncertainty: $35 To $93 For December 2017?

lweb.es/f2613 02.10.2017

Oil, prices, World

The EIA forecasts Brent prices to average $53 a barrel in 2017 and $56/b in 2018, with WTI $1/b less than Brent in both 2017 and 2018. However, “The current values of futures and options contracts suggest high uncertainty in the price outlook. For example, EIA’s forecast for the average WTI price in December 2017 of $53/b should be considered in the context of NYMEX contract values for December 2017 delivery. Contracts traded during the five-day period ending January 5 suggest the market expects WTI prices could range from $35/b to $93/b (…) in December 2017.”

Saudi Oil Minister: Further Cuts? “If Needed, Absolutely.”

lweb.es/f2586 01.22.2017

Oil, OPEC, production, Saudi Arabia

Some 1.5 million of an agreed upon 1.8 million barrels per day of oil has been taken out of the market in January, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said. He noted, however, that at the same time shale oil is estimated to grow this year at 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day – not at the 500,000 bpd estimated by the International Energy Agency. Al-Falih indicated that OPEC countries could cut oil production again this year if higher prices were not maintained due to reasons beyond the control of producers, including falling demand.

EIA Energy Outlook: The U.S. To Become Net Energy Exporter

lweb.es/f2532 01.08.2017

gas, Oil, USA

The International Energy Agency’s Annual Energy Outlook provides modeled projections of U.S. domestic energy markets through 2050, and includes scenarios with different assumptions of macroeconomic growth, world oil prices, technological progress, and energy policies. With strong domestic production and relatively flat demand, the United States becomes a net energy exporter in most Outlook cases as petroleum liquid imports fall and natural gas exports rise over the projection period under consideration. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions decline in most of the cases, with the highest emissions projected in the “no Clean Power Plan” projection.

President Trump’s Energy Plan

lweb.es/f2585 01.20.2017

energy, Oil, USA

While the plan lacks specifics about implementation, it lays out a foundation for US energy policy for at least the next four years: “Energy is an essential part of American life and a staple of the world economy. The Trump Administration is committed to energy policies that lower costs for hardworking Americans and maximize the use of American resources, freeing us from dependence on foreign oil.” Highlights are: Eliminating “harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan”; Embracing US shale and gas; Having a commitment to clean coal technology; Eliminating US dependence on OPEC; Protecting the environment.

Oil And Gas Sector Vulnerable To Cyberattacks

lweb.es/f2584 01.19.2017

cybersecurity, gas, Oil, USA

Critical U.S. infrastructure, including oil and gas pipelines, is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Because no major breaches have recently been announced, the topic of cybersecurity in the oil and gas space has been quiet. That doesn’t mean that the threat of cyberattacks has gone away, Ken Talanian from Evercore said. The Saudi Aramco hack in 2012 – when an unleashed virus erased data from three-quarters of Aramco’s corporate personal computers – would have served as a wakeup call for the industry if the Stuxnet attack in 2010 on an Iranian nuclear facility didn’t.

Woodmac: Global Upstream Projects To Double In 2017

lweb.es/f2617 01.17.2017

Oil, Trump, World

According to Wood Mackenzie, final investment decisions are expected to double globally in 2017, rising to more than twenty in 2017 compared with just nine in 2016, while exploration and production spending will increase for the first time since 2014. Woodmac sees confidence beginning to return to the industry, with E&P spending up 3% to $450 billion and with costs expected to decline marginally. US Lower 48 spending is set to rise 23% to $61 billion, with upside if oil prices rise markedly and US independents are emboldened by a Trump presidency.

China’s Oil Production Drop Helps OPEC Cut Global Supply

lweb.es/f2609 01.17.2017

China, Iraq, Oil, OPEC, production

China’s production is forecast to fall by as much as 7 percent this year, extending a record decline in 2016. This is about the same size as the recent output cut agreed by OPEC member Iraq. China’s output slumped in 2016 as state-owned firms shut wells at mature fields that had become too costly to operate after the crash. Crude production fell 6.9 percent in the first 11 months of 2016 to about 4 million barrels a day, the first decline since 2009 and the biggest in data going back to 1990.

China’s CNPC Forecasts Record Oil Demand

lweb.es/f2615 01.12.2017

China, Oil

China’s crude oil demand will grow by 3.4 percent this year to a record of 11.8 million barrels per day, according to a China National Petroleum Corporation forecast. Total refinery throughput will rise by 3.3 percent to 11.2 million bpd, with refiners adding 702,000 bpd of net capacity. This rising refinery demand will lift crude imports by 5.3 percent to 7.95 million bpd. CNPC predicted that net exports of diesel will surge by 55 percent this year to about 450,000 bpd.