In
2015, the fracking outfits that dot America’s oil-rich plains threw
everything they had at $50-a-barrel crude. To cope with the 50 percent
price plunge, they laid off thousands of roughnecks, focused their rigs
on the biggest gushers only and used cutting-edge technology to squeeze
all the oil they could out of every well.
Those efforts, to the
surprise of many observers, largely succeeded. As of this month, U.S.
oil output remained within 4 percent of a 43-year high.
The problem? Oil’s no longer at $50. It now trades near $35.
For
an industry that already was pushing its cost-cutting efforts to the
limits, the new declines are a devastating blow. These drillers are “not
set up to survive oil in the $30s,” said R.T. Dukes, a senior upstream
analyst for Wood Mackenzie Ltd. in Houston.
The Energy Information Administration now predicts that companies operating in U.S. shale formations will
cut production
by a record 570,000 barrels a day in 2016. That’s precisely the kind of
capitulation that OPEC is seeking as it floods the world with oil,
depressing prices and pressuring the world’s high-cost producers. It’s a
high-risk strategy, one whose success will ultimately hinge on whether
shale drillers drop out before the financial pain within OPEC nations
themselves becomes too great.
end partial quote from:
And this is just the U.S. in 2016 and doesn't even include the cutbacks in drilling by U.S. companies, let alone cutbacks by shale oil companies around the world or worldwide drillers. So, the low prices in the 20s and 30s Saudi Arabia might withstand but not anyone else. Now they are talking (OPEC) that $95 dollar a barrel oil will not return until 2040. However, I'm not sure this is possible for the Saudis or OPEC to do in reality for a variety of reasons.
However, it is true until ISIS is defeated completely as a state these prices likely will remain this low in order to insure that ISIS doesn't overthrow any Sunni Muslim governments including Saudi Arabia's.
The one government that might presently be threatened the most by ISIS is Libya which is still trying to stabilize after the assassination of Qaddafi.
No comments:
Post a Comment