Oil prices tumbled for six straight sessions following the OPEC decision to maintain production levels the week before last. At the close Friday prices were down 11 percent for the week with New York futures closing at $35.62 a barrel and London at $37.93. This is the lowest close for oil futures since the 2008-2009 recession. Adjusting for inflation, oil prices this low were last seen in 2002.
(AP) — Getting paid has always been hard for government contractors in Mexico, but seldom has the problem been so bad, as low oil prices are battering government finances.
(OilPrice.com) The dramatic drop in oil prices has created what are called “zombie” companies , oil companies which can still afford to pay interest on huge debts, but little else. If oil prices stay low, the problem is likely to spread and become an economic zombie apocalypse for much of the industry and the communities and countries that depend on it.
(CNBC) History is repeating itself on Nymex, and although $10 oil looks a long shot, technical analysis indicates that prices have further to fall.
(Bloomberg) Some of the biggest oil explorers in the Western Hemisphere are cutting budgets yet again to conserve cash as a plunge in energy markets shows no signs of abating.
(Bloomberg) In an instant, Chesapeake Energy Corp. will erase the equivalent of 1.1 billion barrels of oil from its books.
Across the American shale patch, companies are being forced to square their reported oil reserves with hard economic reality. After lobbying for rules that let them claim their vast underground potential at the start of the boom, they must now acknowledge what their investors already know: many prospective wells would lose money with oil hovering below $40 a barrel.
(Bloomberg) The Energy Information Administration cut its U.S. crude production outlook for next year as declining prices are prompting shale drillers to put rigs aside. Cheaper gasoline is expected to stoke demand for the motor fuel.
(Bloomberg) Saudi Arabia can’t afford to wait for oil prices to recover and needs to accelerate economic measures to avoid rising unemployment, deficits and debt, McKinsey & Co. Inc. said in a report released Thursday.
(Wall Street Journal) This was supposed to be the year oil prices turned around.
Ten banks surveyed by The Wall Street Journal in March predicted that U.S. crude would average $50 a barrel or better in the fourth quarter. December 2015 futures contracts were selling for $63.82 a year ago.
(Wall Street Journal) The fall of crude prices to six-year lows in recent weeks has pummeled oil-producing countries from Venezuela to Iraq, threatening their ability to keep pumping petroleum and forcing governments to take painful measures to shore up national budgets.
