Oilprice.com

Stop Blaming OPEC For Low Prices

We are a little more than a month away from OPEC's next meeting, which will be held in Vienna on December 4, 2015.

Day Of Reckoning For U.S. Shale Will Have To Wait

October has been billed as a pivotal month in which indebted shale companies would see their credit lines cut, precipitating a faster consolidation in the industry that would sow the seeds of a rebound.

Oil Market Showdown: Can Russia Outlast The Saudis?

"Two men enter, one man leaves, two men enter, one man leaves, two men enter..." Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome November 27, oil consuming countries will celebrate the first anniversary of the Saudi decision to let market forces determine prices. This decision set crude prices on a downward path. Subsequently, to defend market share, the Saudis increased production, which exacerbated market oversupply and further pressured prices.

China To Continue Expanding Its Influence In The Oil And Gas Sector

Since 2009, China has been taking a much more active role in its pursuit of international oil contracts. In 2009, for the first time, Saudi Arabia exported more of its oil to China than it did to the U.S. China also made large investments in Saudi Arabia's oil refining industry as well. But China's oil investments didn't stop there; they also pursued oil producing Canadian assets in 2011-12.

Lithium Market Set To Explode – All Eyes Are On Nevada

While other commodities are floundering or completely collapsing in this market, lithium—the critical mineral in the emerging battery gigafactory war—is poised to explode, and going forward Nevada is emerging as the front line in this pending American lithium boom.

Is Russia Plotting To Bring Down OPEC?

President Putin's recent moves in the Middle East—to shore up Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria through deployment of combat aircraft, equipment, and manpower and build-out of air-, naval-, and ground-force bases, and the agreement in the last week with Iran, Iraq, and Syria on intelligence and security cooperation—could contribute to Russian efforts to combat the myriad negative pressures on Russia's vital energy industry.

This Is What Needs To Happen For Oil Prices To Stabilize

On September 10th the EIA reported a production decline in the Lower 48—essentially shale production—of 208,000 BOPD. That is a staggeringly enormous number, approximately 10 percent of the estimated global over-supply. Additionally, it was a week-over-week number which makes it all the more impressive. Yet it received little attention through the week. Rather, Goldman Sachs was grabbing all the headlines with its $20 call on oil.

The Shale Delusion: Why The Party’s Over For U.S. Tight Oil

The party is over for tight oil. Despite brash statements by U.S. producers and misleading analysis by Raymond James, low oil prices are killing tight oil companies.

The Default Next Move For Oil Is Downwards, And Here's Why

As traders, investors and pundits, we all like to think that what we do is akin to a science. We believe that by working harder and being smarter we can give ourselves an edge, that enough research will reveal to us the next move, either a long term trend or an intraday blip on a chart, and that we can profit from that knowledge. Usually, especially over longer time spans, we are correct in that assumption. Sometimes, however, no amount of fundamental or technical analysis will help.

OPEC Divorce And Self-Destruction Thanks To Saudi Oil Strategy?

"If you are the world's leading energy economy, you produce energy, that's what you do." "A government can stay irrational longer than it can stay solvent." "Even in the short term, you're dead, if you commit suicide."

The first quote modifies a GEICO commercial describing a free-range chicken (If you're a free range chicken, you roam free, that's what you do), the second, the famous John Maynard Keynes quote about markets (The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent), the third, another famous Keynes quote (In the long run, we're all dead).

Saudis Could Face An Open Revolt At Next OPEC Meeting

OPEC next gathers December 4 in Vienna, just over a year since Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi announced at the previous OPEC winter meeting the Saudi decision to let the oil market determine oil prices rather than to continue Saudi Arabia's role of guarantor of $100+/bbl oil.

What's Really At Stake With The Iran Nuclear Deal

Recently, I wrote on these pages that a remarkable turnaround was taking place in the President's fortunes. It's an impressive display of rising from the depths of falling popularity last fall, and it is starting to be felt in many areas, with major impacts on the future of energy.

The Saudi Oil Price War Is Backfiring

Saudi Arabia has long enjoyed the status of being the top crude oil exporter in the world. With record production of 10.564 million barrels per day in June 2015, Saudi Arabia has been one of the major driving forces behind the current oil price slump.

Global Oil Supply More Fragile Than You Think

Many oil companies had trimmed their budgets heading into 2015 to deal with lower oil prices. But the rebound in April and May to $60 per barrel from the mid-$40s suggested that the severe drop was merely temporary.

Could WTI Trade At A Premium To Brent By Next Year?

A flood of bearish news has pushed down oil prices to their lowest levels in months, with WTI nearing $45 per barrel and Brent flirting with sub-$50 territory.

Former Exxon President On Mission To Clean Up Oil Sands

Canada has given oil sands a dirty reputation, but a breakthrough, commercially viable technology has caught the eye of a former Exxon Mobil president who is putting it to use to clean up Utah's billions of barrels of oil sands.

Warren Buffett And Elon Musk To Spark A Lithium Boom

The age of electrification across the transportation sector, the solar panel revolution, and Tesla's battery gigafactory are igniting a battle for the cheapest battery. That will transform lithium into a boom-time mineral and the hottest commodity on the energy investor's radar. It has been easy to take lithium for granted. This wonder mineral is the backbone of our everyday lives, popping up in everything from the glass in our windows to our mountains of electronics.

Saudis Expand Price War Downstream

The undisputed king of oil and gas is making some moves that could change the face of the global refining sector.

More Job Losses Coming To U.S. Shale

With the recently concluded nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries, oil prices have already started heading downward on sentiments that Iran's crude oil supply would further contribute to the already rising global supply glut. The economic crisis in Greece, OPEC's high production levels and China's market turmoil have created more pressure on oil prices, making a price rebound look highly unlikely in the near future.

The Multi-Trillion Dollar Oil Market Swindle

In the past, I documented the overstatements by both the IEA and EIA in 2014 & 2015 in terms of supply, inventory and understatements of demand. Others also noticed these distortions and, whether intentional or not, they exist and they are very large in dollar terms. These distortions, which are affecting price through media hype and/or direct/indirect price manipulation, are quite possibly the largest in financial history.