Industry Trends ///
In the September 2018 update of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) increased the forecast price for the Brent spot price to $73/bbl in 2018 and $74/bbl in 2019. EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average about $6/bbl lower than Brent prices in 2018 and in 2019.
Crude dropped the most in almost a month as global supply concerns receded and a demand-killing trade war intensified.
Saudi Arabia is taking no chances with the longshot "NOPEC" bill, hiring former Solicitor General Ted Olson as a lobbyist to campaign against the act.
The International Energy Agency warned that oil prices could break out above $80/bbl unless other producers act to offset deepening supply losses in Iran and Venezuela.
Iran just endured the longest gap without sending oil to its biggest customer in at least three years as imminent U.S. sanctions pile pressure onto Tehran.
The United States likely surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest crude oil producer earlier this year, based on preliminary estimates in EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).
Europe’s largest oil companies must roughly double the amount of money they’re now dedicating to “new energies” by the end of the decade to meet key climate targets, according to a report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. that suggests the challenge facing the fossil fuel industry has been vastly underestimated.
OPEC highlighted a range of risks brewing in the global economy that could hurt oil demand as ministers prepared for a meeting on production policy, marking a shift from last month’s outlook.
Don’t be surprised to see bumper U.S. oil shipments heading overseas in the coming weeks.
Iran is starting to store oil on its fleet of supertankers again as impending U.S. sanctions force the Persian Gulf country to revive a strategy it deployed under previous curbs.
The oil business has mostly recovered from a worst-in-a-generation crude price slump, but not everyone is celebrating.
Mexico’s next president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will allocate 75 billion pesos ($3.9 billion) in the budget next year to oil extraction in a bid to resuscitate flagging output.
Mexico’s next president said he will continue with oil auctions in the first signs that he is backtracking on plans to scale back the country’s historic 2014 energy reforms.
Saudi Arabia has increased oil exports to America, a sign OPEC’s leading producer is responding to pressure from President Trump to cool down the energy market.
The vibrations of the shale boom are now shaking the futures market.
A lot of best practices and knowledge were lost when experienced staffs left the companies during the oil price crisis. Aging and retiring workforce are compounding the staffing problems, exasperating the current shortage of experienced staffs.
Although oil prices have recovered to above $60/bbl recently, Oil and Gas producers continue to be highly focused on reducing their operations costs to reduce their break-even prices in order to stay ahead of the curve; companies must continue to make investments in improving operational efficiencies to sustain and improve their profitability in the highly volatile business environment.
Improved fracking technology in oil and gas fields is creating an unprecedented boom in natural gas production, exerting tremendous pressure on natural gas prices globally. As recovery of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) from the gas streams drives revenues for natural gas processing plants, any favourable market climate for encouraging production may adversely affect supply-demand equilibrium.
In the past few years, low oil prices had sanctioned almost every large energy projects in the oil and gas industry. Today, with the recent recovery of oil prices, most companies are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and preparing to ramp up their investments to either maintain or grow output. Yet, despite the increasing investment in projects, EPC companies are facing tougher contracting and more intense global competition.
The concept of Digital Twin is not new and it has been around for more than a decade. A digital twin is a complete 360-degree digital replica of a physical asset such as a pump, compressor or entire plant that enables analysis of data and monitoring of systems to catch problems before failures occur, preventing downtime and developing new opportunities for business improvement. Only in recent years, the improved technology and greater clarity on the use cases have accelerated the technology adoption.