Posted on 01/20/2016 10:31:57 AM PST by bananaman22
Oil prices dropped to fresh lows during midday trading on January 20, with WTI dipping below $27 per barrel and Brent trading under $28.
The crash in oil since December has only deepened the pain for oil-exporting countries, even for those within OPEC. Despite the cartel’s inability to agree on a production target at its meeting in early December, some of its members are clamoring for action.
Venezuela recently requested an emergency meeting in a letter sent to the other 12 members of OPEC. That is not necessarily news since Venezuela did the same thing last year, but there are growing fears that the South American nation may not be able to hold out much longer with oil prices so low.
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
My only regret is that I can only drive one car at a time!
Are we actually rooting for higher oil prices?
Man, up is down, left is right, the sky is bright green.
There’s nothing they can do. Forces bigger than them. And Saudi Arabia knows it.
Na , Obama is keeping OPEC afloat with under the table Tax payer funds
What makes anyone think they aren’t meeting? Oil may be dropping to kill the competition from the US and drop the Ruble. Who knows?
How much of the world’s wealth has been wiped out?
A lot of Freepers are.They don’t understand oil at all.
I heard $3 Trillion on Fox Business this morning. I’m sure it is a rounded number. Rounded up, or rounded down, I don’t know.
>>How much of the world’s wealth has been wiped out?<<
Does my retirement count?
I think they had a while back.
They were hopelessly split, and that’s why the prices began to tank.
Saudi is trying to run the maverick oilers of the USA out of business. Looks like they can go lower in price and stay in business than Saudi thought they could.
The Times of London reported on Monday that OPEC was “on the verge of claiming victory†in light of low prices and U.S. crude futures closing down 96 cents at $28.46.
Ryan Lance, chief executive officer of ConocoPhillips, told an OPEC conference in June that U.S. shale and natural gas producers would withstand the cartel’s painful tactics.
“[Shale oil] is here to stay,†Lance said in Vienna, Austria, June 4, 2015. “The shale industry is like a sprinter, very agile. They run, they win, they stop and rest, and they do it again.â€
Robert McNally, president of oil consultant Rapidan Group in Washington, echoed that sentiment.
“We are in the early innings of a long game,†McNally said June 4, Bloomberg reported.
American oil output soared in recent years to 14 million barrels per day as a result of fracking technology and natural gas finds. Saudi Arabia is the world’s second-largest oil exporter at 11.6 million barrels per day.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/opecs-energy-war-with-u-s-draws-blood/#0GVjufMofxQ35DXh.99
Venezuela Said to Request Emergency OPEC Meeting in Letter
Venezuela wrote to fellow OPEC producers requesting an emergency meeting as the collapse in oil prices hurts the group’s most vulnerable members, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.
The letter was sent to the 12 other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the people said, asking not to be identified as the document isn’t public.
Venezuela has repeatedly called for OPEC members to meet as slumping oil prices sap government revenue. De facto leader Saudi Arabia, which has insisted it won’t cut production unless non-OPEC exporters cooperate, signaled again on Jan. 17 that it will stick to its strategy of defending market share.
Oman Offers to Slash Oil Production If OPEC Follows Suit
Oman wants to slash oil production in order to staunch the price slide and ease the supply glut—but it won’t move before OPEC does.
It’s a story we’ve heard before. None of the 12 OPEC countries are willing to take a hit on production unless the others take a hit first, but non-OPEC Oman is reeling from the financial consequences.
Oman has had to borrow $1 billion to make up for low oil prices. And there is a lot to make up for considering that four-fifths of the government’s revenue comes from oil and gas exports—and its 2015 budget was calculated against $85 oil.
On Monday, Oman said it would cut production by 5 percent to 10 percent in order to stabilize the market, but the ball is still in OPEC’s court.
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Oman-Offers-to-Slash-Oil-Production-If-OPEC-Follows-Suit.html
And my regret is that I don’t have a 300 gallon tank at this time.
None. The perception of wealth has been altered, but "no" actual goods or services disappeared (note the quotes around "no" -- I don't mean there has been zero residual damage, but when people talk about a $1T drop in stock market valuation being a $1T loss in wealth -- actual stuff -- that's just nuts).
OPEC says oil markets will begin to rebalance in 2016
Oil prices remained below $30 a barrel Monday but the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is optimistic the market will start to rebalance itself this year as weak prices take their toll on production outside the cartel.
“After seven straight years of phenomenal non-OPEC supply growth, often greater than 2 million barrels a day, 2016 is set to see output decline as the effects of deep capex cuts start to feed through,†the producer group said in its closely-watched monthly report.
Though OPEC acknowledges more than 2 million barrels a day of new projects are still planned to go ahead this year, the organization still expects non-OPEC output to fall by almost 700,000 barrels a day in 2016 as the effects of lower capital spending are felt.
The U.S. is expected to see the biggest decline in production, with output forecast to fall by nearly 400,000 barrels a day, but OPEC said places like Canada, the North Sea, Latin America and parts of Asia are also particularly vulnerable, with all projects in Canada now below cash cost.
OPEC’s oil production, on the other hand, remains elevated, despite declining by 200,000 barrels a day last month, according to secondary sources. The group’s output — including newly reinstated member Indonesia — fell to 32.2 million barrels a day in December led by lower production in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The group’s output still remains above the anticipated demand for its oil though, which OPEC sees rising by 1.7 million barrels a day to 31.6 million barrels a day this year.
Read: Oman says it’s prepared to slash oil output
Meanwhile, the lifting of sanctions against Iran this weekend is expected to add still more oil to the mix in the coming months.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/opec-says-oil-markets-will-begin-to-rebalance-in-2016-2016-01-18
I read one of Daniel Yergin’s books and even though I don’t claim to understand markets, human psychology, crowd psychology, geology, chaos theory and a number of other subjects, I do think oil at $65 would greatly enhance the economic opportunity of my area quite nicely. Market stability is one of the drivers of success because it allows one to plan for the future with greater ease.
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