Production and Prices
Prices started last week above $52 a barrel, then fell sharply in sympathy with a major decline in the equity markets, at one point going below $47. Prices then climbed for the rest of the week, closing just below $52, as investor optimism about an economic recovery increased. Oil prices remained detached from the normal fundamentals such as stocks - which continued to increase last week — and
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Natural Gas
US natural gas prices fell again last week to their lowest point in more than six years, closing at $3.23 per 1000 cu. ft. US natural gas stocks are now 36 percent greater than this time last year as industrial demand in the US continues to shrink. Gas futures have fallen 74 percent from a July high of $13. Active natural gas drilling rigs have dropped to 760 from a record 1,606 last August. Industry
Carbon
The petroleum industry is saying that the new standards will cost consumers billions of dollars because of the complexity of blending the lower carbon fuels. The Board and environmentalists say the standard will phase in so slowly that there will be plenty of time to start moving to electric cars and non-corn-based biofuels and in the long run it will save consumers money. The ruling has implications
Briefs week of April 27, 2009
Saudi Arabia will pump about the same amount of crude in May as in April, sources report. Supply has been steady since February at just under 8 million b/d, down from 9.7 million last summer. (4/24, #3) OPEC will trim crude oil shipments by 0.6 percent in the four weeks ending May 9, the smallest drop since February, according to tanker-tracker Oil Movements. (4/24, #2) Iraq and Syria have agreed
Some Economic Implications of Peak Oil
World oil production probably peaked in 2008. Liquid fuel production, including oil, is indicated by the OPEC data [1] to have reached a peak in July 2008 at about 86 million barrels per day, with its price peaking at about the same time. ASPO International agrees, as indicated on the chart page of their recent newsletters [2]. Peak oil has profound economic implications, most of which are unwelcome.
