OEF REVIEW:The oil tanker that left the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, late last week is the bearer of the first freely traded U.S. crude in about four decades – made possible by congressional legislation that President Obama signed to end a 1970s-era ban on exports. It’s a new day indeed.
OEF REVIEW:The International Energy Agency’s Monthly Oil Report provides an overall view of the state of the international petroleum market and projections for oil supply and demand 12-18 months ahead. These are the IEA’s highlights of the current report.
OEF REVIEW:The International Energy Agency (IEA) considers that South East Asia is moving to the center of the global energy area and is a key pillar for Asia’s growth. This report covers the prospects for energy demand and fossil-fuel supply, as well as priorities for policy makers. There is a special chapter concentrating on Malaysia
OEF REVIEW:The world’s largest independent refiner, Valero Energy, which has 15 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 2.9 million barrels a day, plus 11 ethanol plants and a wind farm, presented its second quarter 2015 business update: – Earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.66 versus $1.22 in the second quarter of 2014. – Refineries operated at 96% throughput capacity utilization. – Advances made in capital investments designed to increase the company’s ability to access and process more North American crude oil.
OEF REVIEW:This Energy Information Administration (EIA) presentation for the October 2015 Oil and Money Conference covers the following questions: 1) What are the key cyclical and structural factors driving oil demand? 2) How is demand changing in developing countries? 3) To what extent will a prolonged period of low prices result in a return to higher demand growth? and 4) How is the landscape of oil trading changing with the decreasing presence of key financial institutions? Note for the article: CAFE = Corporate Average Fuel Economy.
OEF REVIEW: Oil and gas hedging protections for North American exploration and production companies will fall in 2016 to 11% of total production volumes leaving many companies at a high risk of financial stress. For the remainder of 2015 such companies have 28% of production hedged.
Energy ministers from the G20 affirmed their commitment to renewable energy at the first G20 Energy Ministers Meeting this October in Istanbul. This is the first time that renewable energy is on the G20 agenda.
Note that the G20 members are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK, USA, and the European Union.
OEF REVIEW: Solar installations have grown 25-30% in 2015 compared to last year, accordinbg to Mercom Capital Group’s global forecast. Global solar installation figures are illustrated from 2007 to 2015, and country-by-country forecasts are made for China, U.S., UK, India and Japan.
OEF REVIEW: According to the EIA, decreases in the cost to drill shale gas wells and continued investment in domestic production have allowed China to increase its development of shale gas. Even though shale gas is still a small proportion of the country’s overall production it could eventually help reduce natural gas imports, especially since China’s technically recoverable reserves of shale gas are the largest in the world.
OEF REVIEW:The UK Energy Statistics Report for the Second Quarter of 2015 highlights that total energy production in the UK was 10.8% higher than the same quarter of 2014, and final consumption was 2.9% higher. Total primary consumption rose 0.6% over the same period. In terms of electricity generation, gas had a share of 30.2% and coal 20.5%. Renewable electricity generation rose 51.4% compared to a year earlier, and wind generation rose 65.2%.
Statoil and its partners have put the first subsea gas compression facility on line at Aasgard in the Norwegian Sea. Subsea compression will add some 306 million barrels of oil equivalent to total output over the field’s life.
The beginning of a long-tern drop in upstream oil and gas investment could be seen if low oil prices are sustained. Such upstream investment is highly sensitive to changes in oil prices.
