01-02-2015, 11:46 PM
The U.S. shale boom is connecting markets and changing the way oil and gas is bought and sold, according to BP Plc’s trading unit. Understanding one commodity in a region is no longer enough, Carol Howle, head of global oil Europe and finance at BP Integrated Supply & Trading, said in an interview. Change in trade flows will come as the U.S. turns from an importer of LNG to an exporter and liquefied petroleum gas export capacity increases, she said.
U.S. shale boom is making energy trading more global, BP says
There was an energy story that stood head and shoulders above all the rest in 2014, but no clear runner-up. After the #1 entry on the list below, the rest of the Top 10 is highly debatable. I don’t think there is a consensus #2 story, and I don’t believe there is a well-defined Top 10. But I do believe there is a clear #1. Here are my choices for the Top 10 energy stories of 2014, followed by about 15 more that could have easily been on the list. Feel free to chime in with any major stories I have missed.
Low oil prices today may be setting the world up for an oil shortage as early as 2016. Today we have just 2% more crude oil supply than demand and the price of gasoline is under $2.00/gallon in Texas. If oil supply falls too far, we could see gasoline prices doubling within 18 months. For a commodity as critical to our standard of living as oil is, it only takes a small shortage to drive up the price.
Energy Crisis As Early As 2016
Typically whenever crude prices fall, the LNG market is one of the first to feel the pain and projects that looked good with higher oil prices suddenly get a second look. Evidence of that was in hand in early December when the Petronas-backed Pacific NorthWest LNG Company said, without mincing words, it was putting on the back burner a much-awaited final investment decision on its greenfield export facility in British Columbia.
New Frontiers: Canada’s LNG projects get a sharp dose of reality « The Barrel Blog