There are a number of agencies that produce short- and long-term crude oil forecasts, including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency, OPEC, and the International Energy Authority. Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Lewis has now called the accuracy of these forecasts into question. From a recent article in the Oil & Gas Journal:
In [...]
Archive for August, 2008
How Reliable Are Oil Forecasts?
Posted in Oil, tagged Oil Production on August 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Heavy Oil – The Future of Crude Oil is Syrup
Posted in Alaska, BP, Heavy Oil, Oil, Prudhoe Bay, TAPS, tagged Alaska, ANS, Oil, Oil exploration, Ugnu on August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As world production of light sweet crude oil declines, everyone is looking at “unconventional” oil sources to take up the slack. “Unconventional” includes sources like heavy oil (warm thick goop), cold oil (cold thick goop), oil sands (thick goop mixed with dirt), and oil shale (solid goop). Their common characteristic is that, compared to light [...]
Russian Oil Production Decline?
Posted in Oil, Politics, tagged Oil, Russia on August 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
From McClatchy Washington Bureau, a report by Tom Lasseter that Russia is lagging behind in developing new oil fields, thus endangering their oil income and world oil prices.
The Russian oil boom, which has produced a gusher of cash, political power and an opulent elite — and has helped fuel the country’s renewed assertiveness in Georgia [...]
ExxonMobil Starts Point Thompson?
Posted in Alaska, ExxonMobil, Gas, Oil, tagged Alaska, ExxonMobil, Gas, Oil, Point Thompson on August 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
From Upstream:
ExxonMobil says it is poised to launch a new $1.3 billion plan to develop the field, the first exploration since 1982. The company plans to build nearly 50 miles of ice road and an ice air strip and start drilling exploration wells this winter, [...]
Saudi Oil Imports Up, Mexico Down
Posted in Oil, tagged Crude Oil Prices, Mexico, Oil Imports, Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Here’s the latest numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Agency:
Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country
8-Jun
8-May
YTD 2008
7-Jun
YTD 2007
CANADA
2,319
2,346
2,466
2,410
2,470
SAUDI ARABIA
1,490
1,604
1,538
1,534
1,434
MEXICO
1,254
1,218
1,304
1,529
1,590
VENEZUELA
1,213
1,171
1,171
1,364
1,356
NIGERIA
1,020
918
1,092
968
1,080
RUSSIA
762
441
474
285
400
IRAQ
693
583
674
573
476
ANGOLA
649
476
506
514
580
ALGERIA
459
620
530
709
718
BRAZIL
314
335
246
161
205
VIRGIN ISLANDS
271
340
329
218
319
UNITED KINGDOM
254
237
218
345
310
NETHERLANDS
249
192
165
171
126
ECUADOR
184
162
200
168
199
KUWAIT
183
263
222
263
200
Canada remains the largest supplier of oil to the U.S., but Saudi Arabia has now displaced Mexico as the second-largest supplier. No doubt part of this [...]
So Who Owns The Arctic?
Posted in Arctic, tagged Arctic, Oil on August 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve blogged a few times before about Arctic sovereignty (here and here), and how it’s related to the potential for oil and gas development (here and here). Now the International Boundaries Research Unit of Durham University has weighed in on the issue. Their report is here.
Compare this to the presumed locations of oil and gas [...]
Crude Oil Prices, 15 August 2008
Posted in Oil, tagged Crude Oil Prices on August 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Courtesy Reuters, via Upstream Online, the latest crude oil prices:
Y-axis is US$. It looks like the price is dropping, perhaps in response to decreased demand in the U.S. and elsewhere. Correlation does not confirm causality, but the two do seem intrinsically linked.
Energy Sources & Sinks
Posted in Oil, tagged Oil Consumption, Oil Production on August 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
From the U.S. Department of Energy:
This is a useful chart. 95% of our petroleum use last year was for transportation. The other energy sources, primarily domestic, are predominantly used in stationary power systems. The information reinforces the idea that the only way to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil sources (roughly 65% of the [...]
Alaska North Slope Oil Production and Price
Posted in Alaska, Oil, tagged ANS, Oil Prices, Oil Production on August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Just for grins, I dumped the daily ANS (Alaska North Slope) west coast crude oil price and production data into a spreadsheet and graphed out the data. The results are below:
So while production, which accounts for roughly 12% of domestic production, slowly dropped by about 100,000 barrels/day, the price did not track along with production. [...]
Offshore Drilling – How Many Drill Rigs?
Posted in Oil, tagged Drilling, Offshore Oil, Oil, Oil Prices, Oil Production on August 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
With all the talk about opening up the offshore areas to oil drilling, perhaps someone should ask the question – can it be done on the schedule everybody’s talking about? I’m not talking about whether there is really that much oil there (doubtful), or policy roadblocks (permitting, environmental issues, etc.), but whether it is physically [...]
