West Texas Intermediate crude swung between gains and losses after rising the most in a week. OPEC was forecast to increase crude exports this month to meet rising demand from Asian refiners.
Futures fluctuated in New York, heading for the first weekly decline in four weeks. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will ship 23.87 million barrels a day in the four weeks to June 1, up from 23.65 million in the previous period to May 4, Oil Movements, a tanker tracker, said in a report. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

LNG prices have fallen on weak demand and high stocks Spot LNG prices in Asia have retreated sharply to $14/MMBtu after reaching a 4-year high of almost $20 in February. Tightness in global LNG markets evaporated as gas demand in North East Asia eased seasonally after the winter and cyclically on rising economic headwinds.
On top of that, supply from top exporters like Nigeria and Norway recovered. Thus gas storage built to healthy levels, with Japanese gas stocks now at a record seasonal high. Japan now prefers to destock and LNG imports contracted compared to last year in the first quarter………………………………………..Full Article: Source

No one—aside maybe from survivalists who’d stocked up on MREs and assault rifles—was really looking forward to a peak-oil world. Read this 2007 GQ piece by Benjamin Kunkel—while we’re discussing topics from the mid-2000s—that imagines what a world without oil would really be like. Think uncomfortable and violent.
Oil is in nearly every modern product we use, and it’s still what gets us from point A to point B—especially if you need to get from A to B in a plane. If we were really to see the global oil supply peak and decline sharply, even as demand continued to go up, well, apocalyptic might not be too large a word…………………………………….Full Article: Source

The commodity axis has shifted, according to the latest International Energy Agency’s (IEA) semi-annual review of the oil market. North America’s shale oil boom is about to revolutionize the oil market, threatening OPEC’s grip on commodities.
The IEA expects US oil production to grow by 3.9 million barrels of oil per day from 2012 to 2018, significantly faster than the 1.75 million barrels per day of growth forecast for OPEC producers…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Shale oil has rapidly boosted oil production in the US, presaging a revolution in oil to mirror that in gas production. Developing countries have overtaken the industrialised world for the first time in their thirst for oil, according to the world’s leading energy authority.
This transformation in the demand for oil has come as production of the fuel has boomed in the US, “sending ripples through the global markets”, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday…………………………………….Full Article: Source

For decades the physical oil market has been the unregulated preserve of a few powerful companies. But in the wake of the Libor scandal, it is subject to intense scrutiny.
Energy companies including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil, the majors raided by the European Commission on Tuesday in a probe into possible price rigging, have long dominated the trade. A handful of large commodity trading houses, hedge funds and investment banks are the other big participants…………………………………….Full Article: Source

European officials have begun investigating several big oil companies including Shell, BP and Norway’s Statoil over suspected attempts to manipulate global oil prices for more than a decade.
The European Commission said anti-trust officials had carried out unannounced inspections in three European countries on Tuesday………………………………………Full Article: Source

China will probably commission additional storage sites for its strategic petroleum reserve this year, boosting crude demand even as construction work on the program takes longer than expected, according to the International Energy Agency.
The nation, the world’s second-biggest crude consumer, will add 245 million barrels of capacity in the second phase of its emergency stockpile plan, the Paris-based IEA said in its Medium-Term Oil Market Report……………………………………..Full Article: Source

The US will account for a third of new oil supplies over the next five years, more than previously expected, according to the International Energy Agency, illustrating the impact of the shale revolution.
In its medium-term review of the oil market, the industrialised countries’ energy watchdog sharply raised its forecast for North American oil production from six months ago and slightly cut its forecast for capacity additions from the Opec oil cartel………………………………………Full Article: Source

The U.S. shale boom will send “shockwaves” through the global oil trade over the next five years, benefiting the nation’s refiners and displacing OPEC as the driver of supply growth, the IEA said.
North America will provide 40 percent of new supplies to 2018 through the development of light, tight oil and oil sands, while the contribution from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will slip to 30 percent, according to the International Energy Agency………………………………………Full Article: Source

Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 250,000 barrels per day in April from a month earlier to 30.5 million barrels per day, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts released Monday.
“The Platts estimate of OPEC production is about a million barrels per day more than what the International Energy Agency estimates is the output needed to keep supply and demand in balance,” said John Kingston, Platts global director of news, in a statement………………………………………Full Article: Source

Iran’s oil minister says the upcoming meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will mainly focus on the situation of the global oil market.
Rostam Qasemi said on Monday that the OPEC member states would also address the production ceiling of the organization during the meeting, which will be held later in May. The Iranian oil minister made the remarks on the sidelines of the 10th Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF) in the capital, Tehran………………………………………Full Article: Source

Rising U.S. shale oil production will help meet most of the world’s new oil demand in the next five years, even if the global economy picks up steam, leaving little room for OPEC to lift output without risking lower prices, the West’s energy agency said.
The prediction by the International Energy Agency (IEA) came in its closely watched semi-annual report, which analyses mid-term global oil supply and demand trends………………………………………Full Article: Source

If Europe thought it had a crisis on its hands in the Eurozone, it’s nothing to the crisis a lack of oil would inflict. Thanks to the EU’s disastrous energy policies, while the world is proving to be awash with black gold in one form or another, Europe is fast losing the security of its oil supply.
And, just for good measure, a UK House of Lords report just published concludes that the EU will need a trillion euros of new investment if it is to stave off an energy crisis; investment its “muddled” policies are currently failing to attract………………………………………Full Article: Source

Jim Rogers recently said in an interview to Morningstar, that he is not disturbed by the recent tumble in gold prices. “Gold had gone up 12 years in a row, without a down year, which is extremely unusual in any asset. Equally important, gold has only had one 30% correction in 12 years.
Again, that is extremely unusual. Most things correct 30-40% every year or two. So the action in gold has been very unique and gold needed a correction. The main thing that caused it, as far as I am concerned, was that the market was ready. It needed it and it is good for gold to have a proper correction,” said Rogers. We agree. At the same time we would like to point out that this has no implications on the short term………………………………………Full Article: Source

Iran is unhappy with the current oil prices, its oil minister said Monday, hinting at a proposal for the OPEC to lower its output to compensate for a drop in crude prices. “Iran’s suggestion has always been to reduce OPEC production ceiling,” Rostam Qasemi told reporters at a petrochemical conference in Tehran.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries last week boosted production to 30.21 million barrels a day in April from 29.93 million in March maintaining a flat forecast of global demand………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Crude oil prices slipped Friday on renewed global demand worries after OPEC left its 2013 estimate unchanged and reported increased output in April. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery, closed at $96.04 a barrel, down 35 cents from Thursday.
In London trade, Brent North Sea crude for June settled 56 cents lower at $103.91 a barrel. The WTI futures contract sank more than $3 before pulling back up in late-session trade………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Emkay Commodity Research has come out with its report on energy and precious metals. The research firm expects crude oil prices to go down as investors would remain cautious ahead of the manufacturing, GDP and retail sales data to gauge the health of global economy.
Emkay Commodity Research has come out with its report on energy and precious metals. The research firm expects crude oil prices to go down as investors would remain cautious ahead of the manufacturing, GDP and retail sales data to gauge the health of global economy………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Opec will need to pump more oil than previously thought to balance the market in 2013 and expects global consumption to be much higher in the rest of the year, the group said in a report ahead of its meeting to set policy on May 31.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in a monthly report forecast 2013 demand for its crude will average 29.84 million barrels per day (bpd), up 90,000 bpd from the previous estimate. The 12-member group’s own production rose by 280,000 bpd in April to 30.46 million bpd, according to secondary sources cited by the report, led by higher output in Saudi Arabia and Iraq………………………………….Full Article: Source

A surge in US tight crude oil production has reached 2 mb/d; and it is expected to reach 2.8 mb/d by 2015 and 3.1 mb/d 2020, London based Barclays noted in a report.
The improvement in drilling efficiency gains across some key tight oil plays is meritorious and contributes directly to the current surge in tight oil production, there are growing risks of this momentum approaching inflection points in the future (depending on rig availability) at which steep decline rates start to offset these efficiency gains…………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Iraqi and Libyan governments said they would help Egypt cope with its economic crisis by offering up crude oil exports. The Egyptian government of President Mohamed Morsi is trying to right the economic ship more than two years after the country’s revolution.
Conflict in Libya and Iraq, meanwhile, has raised questions about their ability to make post-war oil gains. With OPEC members forced to make adjustments to U.S. oil production gains, it may be that retraction isn’t just an economic issue anymore…………………………………Full Article: Source

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will increase crude exports this month as refiners boost processing ahead of the peak summer travel season, tanker tracker Oil Movements said.
The group that supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil will ship 23.84 million barrels a day in the four weeks to May 25, up from 23.55 million barrels in the previous period, the researcher said in an e-mailed report. The figures exclude Angola and Ecuador…………………………………Full Article: Source

US crude oil inventories are increasing across the board. Commercial crude stocks in the US are sitting at 395 million bbls, an all-time high level and only 37 million bbls away from what Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates to be tested maximum storage capacity.
True, stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma—the pricing point for WTI—fell to 49.8 million bbls in the last available report, briefly pushing prices above $96/bbl. But as other sites fill up, the Oklahoma hub may now hold nearly 45% or 16 million bbls of the country’s total tested spare capacity, a report from the Bank noted………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Is the U.S. holding too much crude oil in its rainy-day reserve? After the Arab oil embargo of 1973, the major industrialized nations agreed to build emergency stockpiles to guard against supply shocks and prolonged price spikes.
The U.S. and other major oil consumers pledged through the International Energy Agency to hold oil reserves in government or commercial hands equal to at least 90 days “cover” of net oil imports………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries raised its oil output in April to its highest level in five months, the U.S. government said.
The Energy Information Administration said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook that the cartel boosted production to 30.21 million barrels a day from 29.93 million in March. That is the highest output for the group since November, when output was 30.26 million barrels a day………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC has appointed a Saudi Arabian candidate as its head of research over an Iranian, OPEC delegates told Reuters on Tuesday following a meeting at the organization’s headquarters in Vienna.
Saudi Aramco’s Omar Abdulhamid was appointed as the head of research, the second most senior post at OPEC after the secretary general, replacing Kuwait’s Hasan Qabazard. The other candidate was Iran’s Hojatollah Ghanimifard. Delegates said that Abdulhamid was personally recommended by OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Many investors study supply and demand statistics to figure out where they think the oil price is going. But by far, the biggest factor that determines the oil price is the US dollar, says Donald Dony, who pens The Technical Speculator investment newsletter.
“The US dollar is absolutely pivotal for commodity prices,” he says. To pros in the investment game, that is a truism; obvious. But most investors underestimate the background impact the greenback has on oil prices………………………………………..Full Article: Source

If one is to believe the hype and the optimism going around Lebanon these days, one would think that every Lebanese citizen, or at least those residing in Lebanon, is going to strike the jackpot and join the ranks of the Gulf Arab millionaires once drilling in the newly discovered offshore oil and natural gas fields begins.
Among the anecdotes making the rounds of Lebanese coffee houses is one that all Lebanese living abroad will now return to the old country. That would be nice but it would create a terrible shock to the real estate market, already over-priced as it stands………………………………………..Full Article: Source

There’s not much to suggest the European natural gas market will make dramatic gains any time soon, the International Energy Agency said. The IEA said in its monthly journal that European countries consumed 8 percent more natural gas in 2010, erasing the 6 percent decline that coincided with economic crises in 2009.
That agency, however, said that was “an illusion” because of colder winters. When adjusted seasonally, the IEA said gas consumption in some countries is at 10-year lows………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Maybe it’s the gloomy Seattle weather that has made investment manager Jim Hansen and his son and partner, Kevin, at Ravenna Capital Management immune to oil and gas industry hype about the supposed U.S. shale gas “revolution.” More likely it is thorough research focused on making their clients money and keeping that money out of harm’s way.
The Hansens are patient contrarian investors whose time horizon is generally several years. They can’t help you if you want advice on next week’s or next month’s natural gas price. In fact, they’re not sure anyone can reliably help you with that. So they focus on much longer-term trends, and they think they’ve spotted one in the U.S. natural gas market………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The price of oil edged higher Monday as tension increased between Syria and Israel. The benchmark oil contract for June delivery rose 55 cents to close at $96.16 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the third straight day of gains for oil, and the first close above $96 since April 2.
Prices rose early Monday on news of an Israeli military strike in Syria, raising concern of an expansion in conflict in the oil-rich Middle East. The price fell back below $95 before rising again late in the day………………………………………..Full Article: Source

If oil prices across the globe don’t seem to square with what one would expect in a free market system, there’s a reason for that. The OPEC cartel, according to a new published by Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE):
[H]as at times been effective in forcing up the price of oil and, thereby, allowing the export nations to obtain a significant premium captured by national oil companies on behalf of their sovereigns. At times this means a transfer of wealth from oil-consuming nations to oil-producing nations totaling hundreds of billions of dollars more than what the competitive-market price of oil would suggest………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A raft of mergers in the US oil sector has been predicted as smaller companies will find it difficult to comply with new regulations introduced after BP’s Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A wave of merger and acquisitions (M&A) in the US oil and gas sector is in prospect, as smaller players struggle to comply with new rules introduced after BP’s Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The wreckage caused by China’s great, juddering slowdown continues to spread far beyond the country’s shores. Although most commodities enjoyed a bounce on May 3, after better-than-expected U.S. employment data, the plunge in their prices over the past few months suggests the past decade’s rally is truly broken.
For those of us not in the mining industry, this is actually good news — one of the best signs yet that the global economy is returning to normal. China’s voracious demand for every conceivable raw material — oil, steel, soybeans, gold, to name a few — once seemed to spell a future of endlessly rising commodity prices and falling living standards in developed nations………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil prices have moved around quite a bit of late, and the price of U.S. benchmark crude oil has even dipped below $90 a barrel. Lower oil prices are great for consumers, and they’re one reason we might actually be able to afford gas this summer.
However, not everyone likes to see the price of oil move lower, and it’s pretty obvious that oil producers prefer higher prices. Next time oil prices spike higher, think about the following positive effects of higher oil prices………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Major Western oil companies also did well during the oil boom, but nowhere near as much. Large integrated companies such as Exxon Mobil aren’t as leveraged to oil prices.
Critically, try as they might, most Western majors have struggled to deliver growth, with stock prices weighed down by fears the companies are struggling to profitably secure reserves………………………………………..Full Article: Source

An age-old question to which no one has a definitive answer, but which is continually asked, is back on the agenda. Is the price of oil headed inexorably downward? There are several reasons why this question is being asked.
The overriding one is hope. After almost five years of triple-digit prices, the benchmark Brent crude oil price fell below $100 last month for the first time since July last year. Admittedly, it did not stay there for long, rising to over $100 days later, but the fact that it had slid by almost 20 per cent over the previous two months gave rise to the hope that prices were on a secular downtrend………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil prices are headed down, and I mean down at least $20 a barrel. The key reason is that prices have been high. It’s not a paradox, but a result of the long time lags in oil production.
Oil prices were fairly stable from 1986 through 2001, averaging just $20 per barrel. Then prices started rising, spiking to $134 just as the recession began. The price of oil has been above $80 for the past two and a half years. With rising prices has come a dramatic increase in exploration activity. During the era of low prices, the number of drilling rigs in operation around the world was 1,900 on average; now we are at nearly double that pace, and we have been for nearly three years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The U.S. is experiencing a boom in the production of oil. Only since the beginning of 2011, oil production in the U.S. has gone up by 30%, from 5.5 million barrels per day (mbd) to 7.2 mbd. Just this week, the U.S. Geological Survey announced that the amount of technically recoverable oil in North Dakota was tripled from a previous estimate – so this boom is unlikely to fall away in the short term.
At the same time, U.S. and European demand for petroleum products are declining. The economic troubles in the Euro zone have dampened economic activity (and petroleum demand), while in America, economic growth has returned, but the consumption of petroleum products are down as consumers change habits and lifestyles to drive less………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil futures are trading slightly lower in Friday’s Asian as traders take profits and look toward the U.S. non-farm payroll report due out later Friday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for June delivery fell 0.20% to USD93.81 per barrel in Asian trading Friday after settling up 2.37% at USD93.19 a barrel on Thursday.
Traders had plenty of ammunition with which to propel crude higher Thursday. The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.50%. Additionally, ECB President Mario Draghi left the door open to further monetary easing………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep shipments little changed this month as “glum” demand in the U.S. and Europe counters rising consumption in Asia, tanker tracker Oil Movements said.
The group that supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil will ship 23.67 million barrels a day in the four weeks to May 18, stable from 23.68 million in the previous period, the researcher said today in an e-mailed report. The figures exclude Angola and Ecuador. U.S. crude imports by tanker have fallen about 13 percent this year, the consultant said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil prices have lost the key $100 a barrel level for the second time in a month as poor economic data from China and the US added to jitters about demand.
ICE June Brent crude oil fell as much as 3.4 per cent to a session low of $98.87, highlighting lingering nerves in a market that fell 7 per cent last month. The sell-off in oil also bled into other commodity markets, with sharp drops seen in copper and gold too………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil prices are headed down, and I mean down at least $20 a barrel. The key reason is that prices have been high. It’s not a paradox, but a result of the long time lags in oil production.
Oil prices were fairly stable from 1986 through 2001, averaging just $20 per barrel. Then prices started rising, spiking to $134 just as the recession began. The price of oil has been above $80 for the past two and a half years. With rising prices has come a dramatic increase in exploration activity………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The latest assessment of the estimated oil reserves in the Bakken and Three Forks formation in the northern U.S. plains states was about twice as much as previously thought. Those plays, spread out over North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, could bring the United States one step closer to energy independence, the U.S. interior secretary said.
New technologies used to get at the oil locked in those shale formations has redefined the geopolitics associated with the global energy sector. The latest government figures suggest the United States is relying less on OPEC for its oil, yet Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said talk of energy independence is, in his words, “naive.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

OPEC is again attempting to break the deadlock over selecting its next secretary general, after rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran last year prevented a new candidate being named to its top administrative post.
A panel of officials is meeting this weekend at the Vienna headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to discuss criteria for the secretary general post, OPEC delegates said. Abdullah al-Badri’s one-year term in the job ends in December………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The United States is in the midst of a miraculous supply boom that has seen domestic oil output soar by more than 1 million barrels per day in the past year to the highest levels in decades. U.S. oil output is now at 6.5 million bbl per day, in third place after Saudi Arabia and Russia (both at roughly 9.8 million bpd). And the growth shows no sign of slowing down.
Add to that the slow and steady recovery of the Iraqi oil industry, plus the likelihood that the shale-cracking techniques perfected in the U.S. will be exported to the likes of China and Russia, and it looks like the world’s oil demand will be easily met for years to come………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Cato hosted a policy forum last week (which you can watch in its entirety if you missed it the first time around) to discuss a new paper released by Security America’s Energy Future (SAFE). The paper – written by long-time friends Andy Morriss and Roger Meiners – argues that there is a consensus among academics who have studied OPEC. The consensus?
The cartel is responsible for less crude oil on the market than would otherwise be the case (which means higher prices than would otherwise be the case) and for the bulk of the price volatility we find in crude oil and, thus, gasoline markets. “The international market for oil is not a free market” they conclude. “The global oil market deviates in important ways from the competitive model and that these market anomalies have significant economic impacts and so are relevant for policy makers.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Libya will seek to increase its oil output quota within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) once it is sure it can produce 1.7 million barrels per day (mbpd), up from about 1.5 million currently, Oil Minister Abdelbari Al Arusi said.
Opec dropped individual allocations in 2011 when it adopted a 30-mbpd output target. But with production rising in Libya and Iraq, the issue of quotas may need to be addressed at some stage. Though individual country quotas are for the moment off the radar, this month’s oil price falls have prompted statements from Venezuela and Iran about a potential extraordinary Opec meeting and the idea of cutting output has been raised, said Simon Wardell, oil analyst at IHS………………………………………..Full Article: Source

West Texas Intermediate crude advanced to near its highest closing level in more than two weeks. OPEC’s reference price rebounded above $100 a barrel.
WTI reversed losses of 0.6 percent as European stocks and the euro rose amid speculation central banks will maintain monetary stimulus. Brent crude traded near its highest closing price in two weeks as Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta prepared to finish installing a new government. Hedge funds curbed bullish bets on the North Sea benchmark to their lowest in four months, data from ICE Futures Europe showed………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Just this month Saudi Aramco announced that production had begun at their Manifa oilfield, and by July would be supplying up to 500 kbd to the new refinery that is being built at Jamail with the collaboration of Total. The first oil from the refinery is expected to ship in August, and both projects are currently ahead of schedule.
Manifa will further increase in production next year, to 900 kbd, with the additional flow going to the Yanbu refinery being built with the collaboration of Sinopec. Both these refineries are designed to take heavy crude, and can also accept oil from the ongoing projects to expand production at Safaniya. Collectively this is said to ensure that the company will be able to achieve a maximum sustainable production of 12 mbd………………………………………..Full Article: Source