David Fuller and Eoin Treacy's Comment of the Day
Category - Energy

    Musings from the Oil Patch July 24th 2018

    Thanks to a subscriber for this edition of Allen Brooks’ ever interesting report for PPHB. This week it contains some interesting commentary on natural gas. Here is an excerpt:

    Natural Gas: The Forgotten Fuel’s Future Needs LNG Exports 

    One can be forgiven if he/she believes only crude oil news is important to the energy sector.  The volatility of crude oil prices, coupled with the OPEC meeting drama and President Donald J. Trump’s twitter campaign against high oil prices, provides opportunities for shocking headlines and non-stop commentary by the media.  On the other hand, if your business is tied to natural gas, you can be excused for believing it’s pretty boring since no one is talking about gas.   

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    Trump Says U.S. to Compete With Russia for Europe Gas Market

    This article from Bloomberg news may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    But Europe may have difficulty attracting gas cargoes from overseas, given higher prices in Asia. The WGI spot LNG assessment for Northeast Asia was $10.30 per million British thermal units on July 9, while U.K.’s National Balancing Point gas futures traded at $7.50 on Monday.

    Longer term, gas export project developers in the lower 48 states may face delays as they wait for regulatory approval. Sefcovic called the U.S. approval process “redundant” and said it needed to be revamped.

    Gazprom is Europe’s largest gas supplier and provides more than a third of the region’s needs in the fuel. Its chief executive officer, Alexey Miller, confirmed in June its plan to start laying the pipes in the next couple of months and to open the Nord Stream 2 link by late-2019. The project would cut Russia’s dependence on Ukraine and help meet additional demand for the fuel in the EU in next two decades as local production falls.

    Meanwhile, Russia is unperturbed by the prospect of American LNG supplies to Europe. They “will never catch up with and will never surpass” Russian gas exports to the region, Miller said in June.

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    Global Crude Oil Supply-demand

    Thanks to a subscriber for this report from Nomura which may be of interest. Here is a section:

    The IEA forecasts that US crude oil production will increase 1,720,000bbl/day in 2018 and 1,190,000bbl/day in 2019. In the Permian region, which has been driving growth in output, the lack of pipeline capacity is likely to persist until 2019. Because of this, Midland oil prices are some USD14/bbl lower than the WTI price. With issues including rising production costs and a lack of engineers, too, we think US shale oil output is unlikely to substantially exceed current forecasts even if tightening supply-demand causes oil prices to rise. See our 11 July 2018 Global research report US crude oil output - Sharp slowdown in pace of increase in 2019.  We estimate that US production forecasts are predicated on WTI price assumptions of USD55-60/bbl for 2018 and USD60-65/bbl for 2019. We estimate WTI of around USD70-75/bbl were the aforementioned short supply to be made up with increased output in the US.

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    Musings from the Oil Patch July 10th 2018

    Thanks to a subscriber for this edition of Allen Brooks’ ever interesting report for PPHB. This week it contains some interesting commentary on estimates of sea level rises but here is a section on electric vehicle demand:  

    There are many reasons why EVs are popular in California.  Continuing to lead national social trends, the large population of wealthy entertainment and technology people love to show off their social awareness credentials, while taking advantage of lucrative financial and other driving benefits by purchasing EVs.  Those benefits are being reduced as EV car manufacturers reach the limits at which federal tax subsidies for EVs are eliminated.  The state has recently decided to double down and boost spending to subsidize EV sales.  What is interesting, however, has been the elimination of the right to drive EVs in High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in Southern California with one person, as too many vehicles have slowed lane speed and increased accident risk when EVs are entering and exiting HOV lanes.  When the Toyota Prius lost use of HOV lanes, sales fell the following year.  Prepare for similar shocks.  

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    Crude Crumbles Under Trade War That Imperils Economic Growth

    This article by Jessica Summers for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    “There’s no doubt that that uncertainty continues to weigh, not only on the crude oil markets, but really all markets,” said Brian Kessens, who helps manage $16 billion in energy assets at Tortoise. As for the storage report, “there was a little bit of noise in the data. It just depends when the ships actually hit the docks.”

    Oil topped $75 a barrel last week amid actual and anticipated supply disruptions from Canada to the Persian Gulf.

    Saudi Arabia has promised to ramp up output to help cover shortfalls from other major suppliers, though some observers questioned the kingdom’s capacity to do so.

    In the U.S. Gulf Coast region that includes refining centers in Texas and Louisiana, oil imports plunged by 1.13 million barrels last week, the steepest decline since September 2012, according to the EIA.

    “There’s a sense that Saudi Arabia’s going to increase their exports to the U.S.,” Kessens said. “There’s a lingering sense in the back of people’s minds that we’ll see that a little bit later this summer.”

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    Shipowners on Pace to Scrap $1 Billion in Oil Tankers This Year

    This article by Costas Paris for the Wall Street Journal may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    Some 1,000 vessels are broken up every year and their steel and other metals are melted or simply stacked up and sold to factories. The yards in the Indian subcontinent recycle around 80% of all ships, with the remainder going to China and Turkey, although Beijing has said it will suspend scrapping starting next year.

    The average age of VLCCs going to scrap this year is 18.8 years, the youngest since 2013, according to VesselsValue. A ship’s average operational age is around 25 years, but after 15 years in the water, the vessel has to go through an extensive survey to determine if it is seaworthy. “An average survey costs about $2 million, and you have to do it again at 20 years, so a number of owners opt to scrap instead,” Mr. Sharma said.

    The oil glut is also sending offshore rigs to scrapyards. It is a relatively new business that has boomed over the past five years, as the cost of drilling at sea is much higher than inland exploration. At least 18 rigs have been broken up so far this year, compared with 46 last year, according to GMS.

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    Musings from the Oil Patch June 26th 2018

    Thanks to a subscriber for this edition of Allen Brooks’ ever interesting report for PPHB. Here is a section:

    To appreciate how the energy world is changing, two charts presented by Mr. Dale set the stage.  Global energy growth last year was 2.2%, up from 1.2% in 2016, and above the 10-year average of 1.7%.  That robust growth came as a result of strong global economic growth, but also due to a decline in energy productivity.  While the International Monetary Fund is warning of potential dark clouds on the horizon for global economic growth, its forecast remains robust, meaning energy growth is likely to remain high.  

    Also important is the difference in where energy growth originated.  The driver for the above-average growth was the strength of the developed economies of the OECD, but also some deterioration in energy productivity.  However, nearly 80% of the total energy growth came from the non-OECD or developing economies of the world.  That is not surprising as they benefit from the global economic recovery, especially China.  China saw energy demand grow by 3%, nearly three times its growth rate of the past several years.  That higher growth was driven by recoveries in numerous high-energy sectors such as iron, crude steel and non-ferrous minerals.  Still, the high growth rate was well below China’s 10-year average rate, even though it was helped by a decline in energy intensity that was more than twice that of the global economy.  

    The picture of primary energy fuel mix highlighted the title of Mr. Dale’s remarks – Two Steps Forward and One Step Back.  He pointed to the dramatic growth in natural gas and renewables as the two steps forward.  Combined, those two fuels accounted for 60% of the total growth in energy fuels.  

    The backward step was the growth in coal usage.  In 2017, global coal use rose by 1.0%, or 25 million tons of oil-equivalent, marking the first annual increase since 2012.  The increase was driven by India, although China’s consumption also rose after declines in the three prior years.  

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    OPEC+ to Boost Oil Output After Saudis Secure Deal With Iran

    This article by Wael Mahdi, Grant Smith and Nayla Razzouk for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    The final communique made no mention of whether the kingdom, or any other member, could compensate for losses elsewhere. Yet it said the group as a whole should strive for “overall conformity” of 100 percent, which in practice will only be achievable if those nations with spare production capacity step in to fill the gap left by others.

    "The lack of specificity is bullish for prices,” said Joe McMonigle, senior energy analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management LLC. “It’s a mystery oil production increase because we don’t really know the final numbers."

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