OPEC, for some quiet moments..

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Libya’s biggest oil field stopped producing just one week after it reopened, forcing the OPEC member to declare force majeure at a key export terminal, the latest disruptions to the country’s output and shipments of crude. The pipeline carrying crude from Sharara, Libya’s biggest field, to the Zawiya refinery stopped operating on Sunday, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media.

Libya halts Sharara oil loadings as biggest field stops pumping

Buyers in the world’s largest liquefied natural gas markets are concerned upstarts are winning better deals than traditional customers who helped underwrite the industry. New importers in the Middle East and South Asia could be getting cheaper LNG than established users in North Asia, according to Hiroki Sato, a senior executive vice president with Jera Co., one of the world’s biggest buyers of the super-chilled gas. Sellers may be sweetening deals to lock up fresh customers as new projects, made possible partly by long-term commitments from buyers in countries including Japan and South Korea, flood the market, he said.

Old guard calls foul on sweeter LNG deals luring new buyers

Crude headed for its longest run of gains this year as Libya’s biggest oil field suffered another outage while Russia signaled it’s weighing an extension of OPEC-led production cuts. Futures gained for a fifth day in New York, adding to last week’s 3.2% gain following a U.S. military strike on Syria. Libya’s Sharara field halted production just one week after reopening, with the National Oil Corp. declaring force majeure on exports, according to a copy of its decree obtained by Bloomberg. In Russia, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday his ministry had been in talks with oil companies regarding the need to prolong the six-month deal with OPEC.

Oil set for longest gain this year as biggest Libyan field halts production

India’s oil consumption fell for a third straight month, with the use of bitumen and naphtha declining and diesel demand growth flat, amid the continuing effects of demonetization. Total fuel consumption fell 0.7% to 17.36 million tons in March, according to the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. That puts consumption during January-March about 3% lower than the same period last year as the economy slows under the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision in November to remove high-denomination currency notes from circulation.

India oil demand shrinks for third month amid demonetization drag

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Crude oil prices turned positive on Tuesday, reversing course on reports that Saudi Arabia has told OPEC officials it wants to continue output cuts for an additional six months. Oil futures have been pinned in a range, supported by production cuts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel and other producing states but capped by rising U.S. shale oil production.

Oil climbs after reports that Saudi Arabia wants output cuts extended | Reuters

As crude prices recover, oil majors face a dilemma – how quickly should they seek to replenish reserves? It’s the same question the cyclical oil industry has tackled many times before: go too fast and risk spending too much for little reward, go too slowly and your rivals will be better positioned to grab market share should oil prices rise. New data revealed by a Reuters analysis shows the oil and gas reserves of global majors have fallen sharply.

Oil majors' reserves are shrinking and investors don't mind | Reuters

Shale companies have pushed breakeven oil prices below $40 per barrel—but so have major oil companies. Analysts commonly portray cost reduction as something unique to the tight oil companies. Data from annual reports filed with the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) suggests otherwise.

Why Breakeven Prices Are Plunging Across The Oil Industry | OilPrice.com

The eleven Arab countries that comprise the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries have combined proved reserves of 710 billion barrels of crude – 55.6 percent of the world’s total, OAPEC reported. In natural gas, OAPEC accounts for 27.7 percent of the global total, with 54 trillion cubic meters, a senior official from the organization said, speaking at the 24th Forum on Fundamentals of Oil and Gas Industry in Kuwait.

Arab Oil Producers Boast Over Half Of The World’s Reserves | OilPrice.com

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Saudi Arabia pared its oil production last month to the lowest since January, staying below the output level it pledged to maintain as part of a global deal to reduce crude supplies, according to a person with knowledge of the data. The biggest producer in OPEC cut output by 111,000 bpd last month to 9.9 MMbpd, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Production had increased in February to 10.011 MMbpd as the country replenished its own storage tanks.

Saudi Arabia said to cut oil output to lowest since January

Natural gas drillers in America’s biggest shale play are getting more bang for their buck than ever before. Thanks to new pipelines and technological advances, producers in the Northeast can now tailor their output to the rise and fall of gas prices. Production from the region’s Marcellus and Utica basins appears to lag price moves at key regional hub Dominion South by three days, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance research. In 2015, no correlation was seen between the hub and output.

Drillers in biggest U.S. gas play get more bang for their buck

Oil advanced for an eighth day in London, the longest gain since 2012, on confidence Saudi Arabia will support an extension to OPEC-led output cuts just as stockpiles show signs of shrinking. Brent futures rose 0.6 percent, after rising 6.4% in the previous seven sessions. Saudi Arabia is likely to back prolonging the curbs into the second half of 2017 in an effort to boost prices, according to a person familiar with the kingdom’s internal discussions. Several other countries, including Kuwait, have also expressed public support for an extension. Industry data was said to show U.S. crude supplies fell last week and OPEC’s monthly report said international inventories dropped in February.

Oil set for longest gain since 2012 as Saudis seen extending cut

Options trading is signaling that the longest rally in U.S. crude oil since December has a few dollars to go. Volume in West Texas Intermediate call options, which give the holder the right to buy crude in the future at a set price, surged on Tuesday to the highest since March. More than 61,000 contracts of July WTI crude $57 call options traded as of 5:19 p.m. in New York, a record high for the contract.

Options traders place `butterfly' bets that oil rally is not over

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A turnaround for Venezuela’s oil industry, the lifeblood of the South American country’s ailing economy, would take at least two years under the best of circumstances. Under business as usual, it might be virtually impossible. That’s the message from analysts who say that government intervention at the state-controlled oil company,  Petroleos de Venezuela SA, has chased away much of the expertise needed to boost production that’s fallen 16% since President Nicolas Maduro took office four years ago.

No easy fix for Venezuela oil as production declines

Global oil inventories probably increased in the first quarter despite OPEC’s near-perfect implementation of production cuts aimed at clearing the surplus, the International Energy Agency said. While cutbacks by OPEC and Russia since January have brought world markets “very close to balance” and should deplete stockpiles in the second quarter, inventories nonetheless expanded “marginally” because of production increases just before the deal took effect, the IEA said in its monthly report on Thursday. The agency lowered estimates for global demand growth because of weaker-than-expected economic activity in India and Russia.

Oil stocks rose despite OPEC cut, IEA says

Oil is finding new weakness despite recent geopolitical woes giving the commodity a boost. Following a price climb to $53 per barrel, WTI futures retreated by 0.3 percent in early morning trading on Tuesday. Bearish trader sentiment came despite the recent air strike in Syria, in which 60 Tomahawk missiles struck military targets in the Middle Eastern state. That geopolitical shock drove oil markets higher, and the bullish trend seemed ready to continue following Libya's announcement that it would shut down an oil field in the country.

Oil Falls Despite Geopolitical Risks (USO, UCO) | Investopedia

Notable authorities such as the EIA, the IEA, OPEC and BP forecast growth of demand for oil in their base case scenarios through the end of their forecast periods. These same organizations failed to predict, and even to fully recognize after the fact, the start of declining demand in the United States and the OECD when those occurred more than a decade ago. Royal Dutch Shell broke ranks from other industry players last fall when its chief executive officer opined that global demand could reach a maximum in the next five to fifteen years. Given the nature of the demand plateau and the historical failure of authorities to predict its advent, it is time for the oil industry to begin planning and watching for the turn.

Is Another Bust Looming Over The Oil Industry? | OilPrice.com

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Goldman Sachs has maintained its base case for oil prices at $50 per barrel, saying it anticipates a return to stable long-term oil prices. The bank said in an outlook note that confidence in long-term oil prices has increased due to improvements in technology and therefore the costs involved with shale extraction. Price fluctuations are now likely to be within the realm of 10-20 percent, rather than the quadrupling noted when new technology methods were being trialled, the note said.

Goldman Sachs anticipates return to long-term oil price stability

Get ready to open up your wallet a lot wider at the gas pump. A major Wall Street bank is reiterating its bullish call on crude oil, as the fossil fuel sits at four week highs following this week's U.S. missile attack on Syria. RBC Capital Markets Head of Commodity Strategy and CNBC Contributor Helima Croft predicts prices will climb to the low $60s within months — a nearly 20 percent move from current levels. That would translate to roughly a $1.80 gasoline spot price.

How soaring oil prices could cost you at the gas pump, RBC says

Wall Street banks’ growing optimism about the energy industry is the latest boost for U.S. oil and natural gas producers already enjoying higher prices. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. said on Thursday in their first-quarter earnings results that rising oil prices have helped them free a combined $370 million they previously set aside to cover bad loans. If the optimism turns into an increase in lending, it would be a boon to shale firms from Texas to North Dakota that rely on borrowed money to finance their drilling and fracking. That could further accelerate U.S. oil production, which is already expected to rise above 10 million barrels a day for the first time in late 2018, and put more pressure on OPEC’s efforts to restrain supply.

Bankers' Fading Fear of Oil Lending Is Latest Boon for Shale - Bloomberg

"OPEC's discipline means nothing in the face of the huge production increases coming from America — 100,000 new barrels every single month — thanks to terrific technology that makes it much easier and cheaper to pull oil out of the ground," the "Mad Money" host said.

Cramer Remix: Forget OPEC! Here’s why the US controls oil prices

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The construction addresses a lack of pipeline capacity that has stunted development of two of the largest shale fields in the United States, the Marcellus and Utica formations. The lines should allow output to increase from both fields by about 50 percent in the next two years, according to the EIA. Gas from the Marcellus and Utica is among the cheapest in the country.

New U.S. pipelines to drive natural gas boom as exports surge | Reuters

The global oil market is moving closer to balance even as increases in U.S. oil production push prices down in the short-term, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. CEO Amin Nasser said. “This is not a good indication of where the market is likely to be headed going forward, as the large new production capacity and investment we will need in the future are lagging,” Nasser said during an event at Columbia University in New York Friday. “While the short-term market is pointing to a surplus of oil, the supply required in the coming years is falling behind.” Many indicators are pointing to a more balanced market, Nasser said. The combined inventories of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are flattening and poised to drop, among other signs that the market is tightening, he said.

Aramco CEO sees oil market closer to balance, despite U.S. boom

Iran, holder of the world’s biggest natural gas reserves, boosted output by inaugurating six projects at the giant South Pars offshore field. The country raised total production capacity at South Pars to 570 MMcmgd, putting it almost on par with neighboring Qatar, which produces from an adjacent portion of the same deposit, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Sunday at a ceremony in the port city of Assaluyeh. Iran invested $20 billion to complete the six projects, or phases, President Hassan Rouhani said at the event. Iran is on track to out-produce Qatar, the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, at the Persian Gulf deposit.

Iran boosts gas output capacity with new projects at giant field

Wall Street banks’ growing optimism about the energy industry is the latest boost for U.S. oil and natural gas producers already enjoying higher prices. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. said on Thursday in their first-quarter earnings results that rising oil prices have helped them free a combined $370 million they previously set aside to cover bad loans. If the optimism turns into an increase in lending, it would be a boon to shale firms from Texas to North Dakota that rely on borrowed money to finance their drilling and fracing. That could further accelerate U.S. oil production, which is already expected to rise above 10 MMbpd for the first time in late 2018, and put more pressure on OPEC’s efforts to restrain supply.

Bankers' fading fear of oil lending is latest boon for shale

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China is the world’s largest net importer of crude oil, and in recent years, China’s crude oil imports have increasingly come from countries outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). While OPEC countries still made up most (57%) of China’s 7.6 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil imports in 2016, crude oil from non-OPEC countries made up 65% of the growth in China’s imports between 2012 and 2016. Leading non-OPEC suppliers included Russia (14% of total imports), Oman (9%), and Brazil (5%).

More Chinese crude oil imports coming from non-OPEC countries - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

OPEC is finally making some headway in its race against the tide of surging U.S. supplies, and speculators are giving the group greater credence. Hedge funds boosted bets on higher West Texas Intermediate crude prices a second week as futures topped $53/bbl for the first time in a month, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. While more OPEC members are seen ready to extend output cuts, U.S. crude stockpiles dropped from a record. Fuel supplies are shrinking week after week at a time refineries are stepping up their crude processing ahead of the summer driving season.

Bullish oil bets gain on signs OPEC cuts to outdo U.S. boom

Oil eased losses as growth in U.S. drilling was partially offset by a weaker dollar. Futures were little changed after earlier falling as much as 1%. U.S. explorers added 11 rigs last week to cap the longest stretch of gains since 2011, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc. Bloomberg’s Dollar Spot Index fell to the weakest in three weeks as soft inflation data from the U.S. cast doubt on the pace of Federal Reserve rate hikes. A weak American currency bolsters the appeal of commodities priced in the dollar. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said Monday that the oil market is on the road to re-balancing.

Crude losses ease as dollar drop offsets U.S. drilling boom

The Drilling Productivity Report uses recent data on the total number of drilling rigs in operation along with estimates of drilling productivity and estimated changes in production from existing oil and natural gas wells to provide estimated changes in oil and natural gas production for seven key regions. EIA's approach does not distinguish between oil-directed rigs and gas-directed rigs because once a well is completed it may produce both oil and gas; more than half of the wells produce both. While shale resources and production are found in many U.S. regions, at this time EIA is focusing on the seven most prolific areas, which are located in the Lower 48 states. These seven regions accounted for 92% of domestic oil production growth and all domestic natural gas production growth during 2011-14.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

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Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude shipper, trimmed exports to a 21-month low in February as local refineries took advantage of more abundant supplies and processed a record amount of crude. Oil exports fell to 6.95 MMbpd, the lowest since May 2015, from 7.7 MMbpd in January, according to data published Tuesday on the Riyadh-based Joint Organisations Data Initiative website. The kingdom boosted production to 10 MMbpd from 9.7 MMbpd, the data show.

Saudi oil exports hit 21-month low as kingdom sticks to cuts

Citigroup Inc joined Goldman Sachs Group in backing commodities, saying it’s the season to have faith in raw materials and oil will probably rally to the mid-$60s by the end of the year. While U.S. shale output may come “roaring back” amid higher crude prices, production curbs by OPEC and its allies should help offset that increase over the next six to nine months, Citi analysts including Ed Morse and Seth Kleinman wrote in an April 17 report. The producers need to extend their deal to cut supplies through the end of the year amid concerns that Russia is lagging behind on its pledged reductions, the bank said.

Citigroup sees $60 oil as OPEC combats roaring U.S. shale

The oil boom in the Permian basin, America’s most prolific crude play, has become a gas boom. With its $2 billion takeover of  EagleClaw Midstream Ventures,  Blackstone Group on Monday became the latest company to bet on gas in a basin better known for its oil reserves. Its interest lies in “associated gas” -- a term used to describe the gas that comes out of an oil well along with the crude. Gas volumes will rise fivefold in five years on the EagleClaw system, said David Foley, CEO of Blackstone Energy Partners.

Blackstone bets there's gas money to be made in the oil patch

The counterbalanced pumping unit was invented nearly a century ago, and it’s still hard at work in the oil patch, virtually unchanged, pumping oil out of the ground. There’s been a recent innovation, though: Algorithms adjust the extraction flow based on computer monitoring hundreds of feet below. Finally. “Onshore North America used to be a market where state-of-the-art technology went to be humiliated,” said Tom Curran, an energy analyst at FBR Capital Markets “You’ve had a clear shift occur where onshore North America for the first time in recent history has become a technology play.”

Operators finally embrace digital technologies to improve production efficiency

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Abu Dhabi National Energy Co, the government-run company known as Taqa, is generating cash from overseas oil and natural gas operations and wants to sell some higher-cost wells in North America after reporting a record $5.2 billion loss last year. After a two-year program to cut costs, Taqa’s oil and gas businesses in North America and Europe are “cash-flow positive,” Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, acting chief operating officer, said in an emailed response to questions. Taqa plans to invest more in the hydrocarbon business in Canada’s Alberta province, he said.

Abu Dhabi's Taqa seeking to sell energy assets in North America

Iran will probably be allowed to keep its oil production unchanged if OPEC decides to extend its six-month agreement on output cuts beyond June, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said. “I think they will keep the same level if the deal is extended,” Almarzooq, who chairs the committee monitoring the cuts, said Wednesday in an interview in Abu Dhabi. Kuwait was the first country to call for extending the production cuts beyond June. Oil prices will increase as demand improves, chipping away at oil inventories in the second half, he said.

Iran may keep same oil output if others extend cuts, Kuwait says

Norway can’t afford an abrupt cut in spending if the economy of western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer is to continue growing, according to the man who most polls suggest will be prime minister after elections this year. Jonas Gahr Store, the leader of Norway’s opposition Labor Party, warned against a sudden adjustment after record expenditure by the current center-right government as the nation debates how to wean itself off its addiction to oil spending.

Norway's oil problem sets election stage after spending binge

Oil-producing nations are moving closer toward ending a global glut and re-balancing the crude market, and OPEC will decide next month whether to extend its cuts in output beyond June, the group’s Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said. OPEC and other major producers are committed to reducing oil stockpiles, and all countries participating in a six-month deal to pare output are committed to restoring the market’s stability, Barkindo said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. OPEC will decide at a meeting on May 25 whether to prolong the cuts it pledged to make starting in January, he said.

OPEC chief sees oil producers closer to re-balancing market

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With oil prices seemingly on firm footing, Wall Street is pouring money back into the shale sector, expecting profits even at $50 per barrel. The private equity industry raised an estimated $19.8 billion in funds for energy investment in the first quarter of this year, or about three times as much as the same period in 2016. The figures indicate a more aggressive approach from private equity in shale drilling, and rising expectations that the oil market is set to rebound. The data comes from Preqin, and was reported on by Reuters.

Wall Street Is Pouring Money Back Into Shale | Zero Hedge

Gone forever are the days when the world stressed over what would happen when humanity began running out of oil—a fear based on M. King Hubbert’s theory of peak oil—or the point in time at which the maximum rate of petroleum extraction occurred. The North American shale revolution proved that not only are there plenty of hydrocarbons left to fuel humans for centuries, there are plenty of people with substantial grit and ingenuity to find ways to reach these resources. What worries the oil industry today is the idea of peak oil demand—when demand growth for oil and gas resources begins to stagnate and lose ground to other energy sources, such as renewables, due to cost and/or environmental concerns.

AAPG’s ACE ’17: Plentiful supply can meet strong demand, but forecasts rarely certain, admits BP exec

The usual suspects have planted their flags along the dusty byways of the Permian basin, declaring where they’ve staked claims. There are names like Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Pioneer Natural Resources Co. And, on signs fronting a barbed-wire fence, BHP Billiton Ltd. For the world’s largest mining company, the heart of the U.S. shale boom in West Texas might seem to be strange territory, a very long way from the iron-ore deposits of Australia or the copper mines of Chile’s Atacama desert. But BHP actually has been in the oil business for years, with operations stretching from Texas to the North Sea. Its U.S. assets alone are so valuable that activist investor Paul Singer urged the company to spin them off -- a suggestion BHP rejected Monday, setting the stage for a tussle with the billionaire.

Singer's BHP gambit shines light on little-known oil giant

OriginClear Inc. has announced it is entering into a partnership with a regional organization in the Chinese province of Shandong for remediation of a shale gas site operated by the government-owned Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil and gas company. The two- to three-week pilot at Sinopec's FuLing shale gas site in Chongqing, a major city in Southwest China, is intended to qualify OriginClear's Electro Water Separation (EWS) technology for integration into a multi-stage process that's designed to process hydraulic fracturing and flowback water for on-site reuse.

OriginClear announces pilot program for Sinopec shale gas site in China