OPEC, for some quiet moments..

[admin]

Encana Corp. CEO Doug Suttles says drillers in Texas’s prolific Permian basin can no longer impress investors with how much acreage they’re snapping up or how quickly they’re boosting production. Instead, investors will focus on how profitably companies are able to produce from their current holdings, Suttles said in an interview in New York. Encana, which has spent about four years reworking its portfolio of holdings to four top North American plays, expects to be a leader among its peers on that front, he said.

Encana calls end to Permian land race as focus turns to output

Oil extended gains as signs of declining U.S. stockpiles pointed to healthy demand while investors weighed disruptions to supply because of global geopolitical tensions. Futures in New York rose as much as 0.8% after adding 2.5% in the past three sessions. Flows of crude from northern Iraq through the Turkish port of Ceyhan have slumped, a port agent said Wednesday, a sign that fighting between the Baghdad government and Kurdish forces may be having a larger-than-expected impact on output in the oil-rich Kirkuk region. An industry report showed U.S. inventories fell last week, with government data Wednesday forecast to show a fourth straight drop.

Oil rises on demand signs after Goldman flags geopolitical risks

While gas markets are currently well supplied, the transformation of natural gas markets from regional systems to more globalized and interdependent markets is creating new security challenges, according to the International Energy Agency's latest assessment of global gas security. The IEA's second Global Gas Security Review provides an extensive analysis of recent gas balancing issues and risks with related policy developments linked to security of supply - including the stressed situations in natural gas and power markets experienced by several southern Europe countries in the winter of 2016-2017; the diplomatic tensions between Qatar and some of its neighboring countries; and the supply risks posed by recent hurricanes on the United States energy system.

IEA: Market flexibility improving thanks to LNG, but gas security remains a concern

Congressional Republicans have found a way to use the federal budget to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling -- and they don’t plan on stopping there.  GOP leaders in the House and Senate are exploring ways to also expand drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans through congressional budget rules that allow them to pass major policy changes on a simple majority vote.

Republicans may use budget to open Arctic, Atlantic to oil rigs