“On the face of it, the Saudi-led OPEC strategy to defend market share regardless of price appears to be having the intended effect of driving out costly, ‘inefficient’ production.”
International Energy Agency, September Oil Monthly Report
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Chukchi and Beaufort seas hold 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil. “It’s probably fair to say, this [Shell’s drilling effort in the Chukchi sea] is the most scrutinized, analyzed project — oil and gas project — probably anywhere in the world. I’m actually sure of that. We can’t afford to have a problem here.”
Marvin Odum, CEO Shell Oil Co.
“With oil down again [the day they hit $38], $20 per barrel predictions will be amplified. Remember the oil business doesn’t work at these prices.”
Analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.
“As part of our long-term plan to build a more resilient economy, create jobs and deliver secure energy supplies, we continue to back our onshore oil and gas industry and the safe development of shale gas in the U.K.”
British Energy Minister Nick Bourne
“Oil prices have so many moving parts that it’s exquisitely challenging to predict.”
Jan Stuart, Credit Suisse Group AG global energy economist [Commenting on his February forecast that oil would average around $67/barrel at year-end 2015.]
“Frack now and pay later.” Business is so tough for oilfield giants Schlumberger and Halliburton that they have come up with a new sales pitch for crude producers halting work in the worst downturn in years. It amounts to this: “frack now and pay later.” The moves by the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 oil services companies show how they are scrambling to book sales of new technologies to customers short of cash after a 60 percent slide in crude to $45 a barrel. In some cases, they are willing to take on the role of traditional lenders, like banks, which have grown reluctant to lend since the price drop that began last summer, or act like producers by taking what are essentially stakes in wells.
Terry Wade and Anna Driver, Reuters
“A steady supply of gas from Iran would not be a silver bullet for Pakistan’s energy crisis. Woeful energy sector governance is perhaps an even more debilitating factor than supply, with risks including rampant theft, poor maintenance, and transmission and distribution losses of around 20 percent.”
Oliver Coleman, deputy head of Asia programs at analytical firm Verisk Maplecroft [Note: Pakistan is the world’s sixth most populous nation with roughly 190 million inhabitants]
“Corruption in Nigeria has virtually developed into a culture where honest people are abused. The amount of money [involved] is mind-boggling but we have started getting documents where some of the senior people in government and former ministers have as much as five accounts and were moving about one million barrels per day on their own. We have started getting those documents.”
Nigeria’s President Buhari
“For a brief, brave moment this year there was a sense the worst was over for the oil sector. This week, that feeling evaporated.”
Gregory Meyer, The Financial Times, July 17, 2015
“The Economist has examined the books of the 62 largest listed exploration and production firms in America whose collective output is mainly from shale. The results suggest many first are more vulnerable than the bullish noises from their bosses suggest. There are three sets of concerns: the juicing-up of the results announced for the first quarter of 2015; high leverage; and the industry’s returns on capital.”
The Economist, July 4th issue
