03-08-2015, 02:52 AM
In a world of $55/bbl oil, Exxon Mobil Corp. is relying on shale fields in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota to help fund the next wave of big overseas projects it needs to thrive in the future. Exxon unveiled plans Wednesday to double the amount of oil it pumps from U.S. shale fields during the next three years, even as it moves more cautiously on investments in big projects elsewhere. Decades after quitting many U.S. fields to pursue bigger reserves from the Middle East to the North Sea, Exxon now sees its U.S. assets as its most reliable cash engines.
Exxon looks to U.S. shale fields to drive global growth
Global trade in LNG will exceed $120 billion this year, taking it past iron ore as the most valuable commodity after oil, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. Competition will increase because the spot market is expanding and buyers are less reliant on long-term contracts, analysts including Jeff Currie in New York wrote in an emailed report on Thursday. The U.S. will supply more LNG in the next several years, giving Asia, the biggest consuming region, more bargaining power, the analysts said. About 73% of global LNG is sold under long-term contracts generally linked to oil with a time lag of as long as nine months
Goldman sees LNG as biggest commodity after crude this year
The recovery of the global oil market from sharply lower oil prices will be gradual, and it will be driven mostly by a supply response, said ConocoPhillips Chief Economist Marianne Kah. Her comments came during a presentation to The 5th Norwegian Finance Day, held Wednesday by the Norwegian Consulate General at the Federal Reserve Bank in Houston.
ConocoPhillps’ chief economist sees gradual market recovery
Recent well performance in the Eagle Ford Shale play has declined among key operators. This is due in part to especially poor well performance by a few operators. Excluding those operators, well performance for 2013 and 2014 was still poorer than in 2012 but improved in 2014 compared with 2013.