OPEC, for some quiet moments..

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A dearth of new investment in oil production is stoking a risk of tighter crude supply and unstable prices, even as demand growth is expected to slow over the next five years, a senior International Energy Agency official. The worldwide cushion of spare production capacity will shrink without further investment in exploration and output, Neil Atkinson, the head of the IEA’s oil markets and industry division, said Sunday at a conference in Manama, Bahrain.

IEA sees risk of volatile oil prices on weak upstream investment

Oil futures in New York have been stuck in glut mode, but that may be starting to change for the first time in years as backwardation, one of those big words used by traders, begins to replace contango. After prices collapsed in 2014, WTI gradually started selling at a discount to its longer-dated futures. That’s what contango means. This occurs when buyers are willing to pay more for future deliveries as a way to limit their storage costs. Meanwhile, those who have the ability to store crude gain an advantage by buying it cheaply, then selling it for later delivery at a profit.

Two words show why U.S. oil may finally be turning a corner

When OPEC and its allies gather this week, they’ll have the best evidence yet that their efforts to clear a global oil glut are succeeding. It may prove short-lived. Crude prices have rebounded to a three-month high and the world’s bloated fuel inventories are shrinking, signaling that nine months of production cuts by OPEC and nations including Russia are at last paying off. Yet as U.S. shale oil continues to thrive and seasonal demand wanes, the surplus that has weighed on markets for three years looks set to come back.

OPEC has success at last, but oil revival may be short-lived

Wood Mackenzie has released Positioning for the Future, the first comprehensive study ever carried out into carbon emissions in the upstream oil and gas sector. Dr. Gavin Law, head of Gas & Power Consulting, Wood Mackenzie, said: “The carbon emissions targets set by the Paris Agreement, together with potential policy changes, are starting to influence investors’ capital decisions and shape companies’ long-term corporate strategies. “More countries are placing a price on carbon or imposing carbon-related regulations. This increases cost. It has never been more important to understand the value at risk.”

Wood Mackenzie study weighs cost of carbon on upstream sector