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What’s Wrong With The U.S. Oil Export Boom

June 20, 2017

What’s Wrong With The U.S. Oil Export Boom

US shale

The lead editorial in Friday’s Wall Street Journal was pure energy nonsense.’

“Lessons of the Energy Export Boom” proclaimed that the United States is becoming the oil and gas superpower of the world. This despite the uncomfortable fact that it is also the world’s biggest importer of crude oil.

The piece includes the standard claptrap about how the fracking revolution has pushed break-even prices to absurdly low levels. But another article in the same newspaper on the same day described how producers are losing $0.33 on every dollar in the red hot Permian basin shale plays. Oops.

The main point of the editorial, however, is to celebrate a surge in U.S. oil exports to almost 1 million barrels per day in recent weeks. The Journal calls lifting the crude oil export ban that made this possible “a policy triumph.” What the editorial fails to mention is that exports actually fell after the ban was lifted, and only increased because of Nigerian production outages (Figure 1).

(Click to enlarge)

Figure 1. U.S. Oil Exports Have Increased As Nigerian Production Has Fallen. Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

Tight oil is ultra-light and can only be used in special refineries, most of which are in the U.S. It must be deeply discounted in order to be processed overseas in the relatively few niche refineries designed for light oil. That’s why Brent price is higher than WTI.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why China Is Really Dictating the Oil Supply Glut

May 2, 2016

Why China Is Really Dictating the Oil Supply Glut

While the world was speculating about oil prices plunging to $20 and $10 per barrel, China was busy stockpiling its reserves.

The chart below shows an increase in imports as crude prices collapsed. Since the beginning of this year, China has imported a record quantity of oil.

(Click to enlarge)

Back in January 2015, Reuters had reported that China planned to increase its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) from 30 days to 90 days. In January 2016, it was revealed that China was building underground storage to complement its above-ground storage tanks.

The Chinese urgency points to two things. China believes that crude oil prices will not remain at the current levels for long, and that a disruption is possible due to geopolitical reasons, which can propel oil prices higher.

As a net importer of crude, it is protecting itself against a black swan event and using the current low prices to fill its tanks. The filled up tanks will ensure a steady supply of crude for at least three months in case of a disruption.

Does the record buying spree by the Chinese indicate a bottom in crude oil prices?

That is difficult to conclude, but it does put a floor beneath the current lows, because in all likelihood, China will resume its record buying and top up its SPR if prices tank.

The total Chinese imports in March via the very large crude carriers was 7.7 million barrels a day. Other than the supertankers, China also imports oil through pipelines and small tankers.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China Stockpiling Oil At Highest Rate In Over A Decade

April 25, 2016

China Stockpiling Oil At Highest Rate In Over A Decade

China might be in the midst of another round of stockpiling, stepping up crude oil imports to fill its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR).

The slowdown in oil demand in China is one of the chief concerns regarding the state of oversupply in global oil markets. Excess production has driven down prices, but soft demand in China over the past year or so has led to a protracted recovery.

After a period of softness, oil imports could be rising once again. Bloomberg reports that the number of oil supertankers docking at Chinese ports is at a 16-month high. And there are 83 supertankers currently on their way to China, with a capacity of 166 million barrels of crude, the highest number in four months.

In the first quarter of this year China diverted about 787,000 barrels per day into its strategic stockpile, the highest rate since Bloomberg has been tracking the data in 2004. Overall, as of March, China was importing around 7.7 million barrels per day.

The activity makes sense – China needs to fill up its strategic reserve and has had several facilities come online last year, with more storage sites under construction. The timing is fortuitous since China can fill its storage reserves with oil at incredibly low prices.

Another source of additional demand comes from a policy change in the downstream sector. The central government recently loosened the rules on oil imports, allowing smaller refineries to import more crude oil. These so-called “teapot refineries,” with capacities of around 20,000 to 100,000 barrels of production per day, struggled under the old restrictions, producing at only 30 to 40 percent of capacity because of an inability to import oil. That has changed, and domestic refining production is set to rise, and with it, so are imports.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

U.S. Has Too Much Oil. So Why Are Imports Rising?

March 4, 2016

U.S. Has Too Much Oil. So Why Are Imports Rising?

Despite domestic production declining and demand surging, the EIA reported oil inventories surge by more than 10 million barrels, or more than three times what was expected.

The 10.4 million barrel increase was mostly due to a near record increase in imports of 490,000 b/d (3.4 million barrels weekly) and an adjustment swing of 352,000 b/d (2.5 million barrels weekly) by the EIA. The latter has been a repeated pattern to exaggerate the levels of inventory, a pattern going back to 2015.

Thus, over half of the said increase in inventory was driven by higher imports and an arbitrary adjustment that seems routine by the EIA. Domestic production actually fell by 25,000 B/D in the week ending on February 26. Also gasoline inventories fell 455,000 barrels, or nearly 5 percent, as capacity utilization rose 1 percent. Total gasoline supplied, which is a gauge of demand over last 4 weeks, has risen a whopping 7 percent.

Now the real question is with U.S. production declining and inventories at record levels, why are refiners still importing at such heights? The 8.2 million barrels per day imported in the week came very close to the record in December, missing by some few percentage points. U.S. commercial domestic crude oil stocks are now nearly 17 percent above last year levels. None of this adds up: We are producing less, inventories are rising, while demand is at records and yet we are using more imported oil? The chart below depicts these very odd phenomena.

(Click to enlarge)

Moreover, most incremental U.S. output is light sweet crude from shale regions, as is the imported oil. The only logical answer that seems possible is that OPEC is undercutting light sweet U.S. crude pricing, so as to incentivize refiners to use imports. So are we then to believe Saudi Arabia that it isn’t at war with U.S. shale?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Can lower oil prices cause a recession?

January 25, 2016

Can lower oil prices cause a recession?

Donald Luskin writes in the Wall Street Journal:

The global economy is slipping into recession. The evidence is showing up in all the usual ways: slowing output growth, slumping purchasing-manager indexes, widening credit spreads, declining corporate earnings, falling inflation expectations, receding capital investment and rising inventories. But this is a most unusual recession– the first one ever caused by falling oil prices.

A drop in oil prices means less money in the hands of oil producers but more money in the hands of oil consumers. Currently the U.S. is importing about 5.1 million barrels a day more than we’re exporting of crude oil and petroleum products. At $100 a barrel, that had been a net drain on the U.S. economy of $190 billion each year. That drain that will now be cut by more than half by falling oil prices.

We usually see consumers spend their extra income right away, whereas it takes more time for producers to alter their spending plans. As a result, even if the U.S. was not a net importer of oil, we might still expect to see a short-run positive stimulus from dropping oil prices. The actual change in overall consumption spending in response to the oil price decline through March of last year was about 0.4% smaller than would have been predicted on the basis of the historical correlations. But we see something different when we look at the behavior of individual consumers. A study by the JP Morgan Chase Institute compared the response to lower gasoline prices of people who had previously been buying a lot of gasoline with the responses of people who had been buying relatively little. They found that the first group increased spending relative to the second, with the magnitude of the difference in spending between the two groups consistent with the claim that consumers spent almost all of their windfall.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The myth of US self-sufficiency in crude oil

January 21, 2016

The myth of US self-sufficiency in crude oil

Google for “US energy independence” and you will get 134k results, “US self sufficiency” yields 10k results. Here are some examples of what the media reports:

In Aljazeera’s Inside Story, 10/1/2016, titled “How much support will Saudi Arabia win against Iran?” the delicate relationship between the US, Saudi Arabia and Iran is discussed with 3 panellists. The moderator wanted answers in the context of “the US is almost at a tipping point, is almost energy independent..”
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2016/01/saudi-arabia-iran-160110170443000.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xvjeUKpkP8 (18:45)

In the State of the Union Address 2014 Obama proudly announced: “Today, America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades”. In the latest SOUA on 12th January 2016, we hear: “Meanwhile, we’ve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly sixty percent”

On 16/1/2016, the 7pm news of Australia’s public broadcaster ABC TV had this snippet:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-16/benefits-of-falling-oil-prices-not-fully-passed-on-to-motorists/7091862?section=business

Let’s look at the data:

Crude imports

Fig 1: US crude oil production, imports and exports

The graph shows that crude production reached almost 9.5 mb/d in 2015, just short of the historic peak in 1970. But imports are still 7 mb/d. Exports were only around 500 kb/d (to Canada) due to an export ban (which was recently lifted). Let’s zoom into the period since 2007, the peak year of imports.

Fig 2: US crude production vs imports since 2007

We have several phases in this crude oil import history:

  • 3 year decline of imports due to recession as oil prices went up, followed by the financial crisis
  • A rebound when quantitative easing started
  • A 2 mb/d decline 1 year after the shale oil boom started

In 2013 the growing production curve intersects with the declining import curve at around 7.5 mb/d i.e. a production/import ratio 50:50. Since then production grew another 2 mb/d but has peaked in April 2015 because of low oil prices which hit the shale oil industry. Imports did not continue to decline but remained basically flat.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why The U.S. Can’t Be Called A ‘Swing Producer’

January 7, 2016

Why The U.S. Can’t Be Called A ‘Swing Producer’

They are wrong. It is preposterous to say that the world’s largest oil importer is also its swing producer.

There are two types of oil producers in the world: those who have the will and the means to affect market prices, and those who react to them. In other words, the swing producer and everyone else.

A swing producer must meet the following criteria:

• A swing producer must be a net exporter of oil.

• A swing producer must have enough daily production, spare capacity and reserves to influence market prices by balancing supply and demand through increasing or decreasing output.

• A swing producer must be able to act authoritatively and quickly to increase or decrease output.

• In the real world, a swing producer is a euphemism for a cartel. No single producer has enough oil leverage to balance the market and influence prices by itself. That includes Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States, the top 3 producers in the world. Obviously, it also includes U.S. tight oil.

• A swing producer must have low production costs and have the financial reserves to withstand reduced cash flow when restricting or increasing supply is necessary to balance the market.

So, let’s go down the list for OPEC and U.S. tight oil.

Related: 10 Key Energy Trends To Watch For In 2016

OPEC’s net exports for 2014 were 23 million barrels per day (mmbpd) (Figure 1). U.S. net exports were -7 mmbpd. In other words, the U.S. is a net importer of crude oil. A net importer of oil cannot be a swing producer.

Figure 1. OPEC and U.S. 2014 net crude oil exports.
Source: OPEC & Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc.

(Click image to enlarge)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peak Oil? What Peak Oil?

January 4, 2016

Peak Oil? What Peak Oil?

It is unbelievable how many times I’ve heard people telling me “the US has become self-sufficient in oil production,” a group that includes some respectable members of the EU parliament. This is probably due to the confusion that the media have made on the fact that the US production has recently surpassed the US imports of oil. It is true, but that tells you nothing of how much oil the US still imports. And that is, actually, much more than it was at the time of the oil crisis and domestic consumption is on the increase (as you see in the figure above, from Art Berman’s blog)

This misperception on the actual dependence of the US on imports is probably one of the reasons that led to the recent lifting of the ban on US exports, that dated from the time of the great oil crisis of the 1970s

Art Berman clarifies the situation and wonders why “consumption has increased by one-third and imports have doubled but we no longer need to think strategically about oil supply because production is a little higher?” Here is an excerpt from his post.
____________________________________________
The Crude Oil Export Ban–What, Me Worry About Peak Oil?

Congress ended the U.S. crude oil export ban last week. There is apparently no longer a strategic reason to conserve oil because shale production has made American great again. At least, that’s narrative that reality-averse politicians and their bases prefer.

The 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) that banned crude oil export was the closest thing to an energy policy that the United States has ever had. The law was passed after the price of oil increased in one month (January 1974) from $21 to $51 per barrel (2015 dollars) because of the Arab Oil Embargo.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Oil Price Crash: Top 5 At-Risk Countries

February 25, 2015

Oil Price Crash: Top 5 At-Risk Countries

Since June 2014, global oil prices have dropped by more than 50%. The drop could strongly affect the economic and political stability of these five oil exporting countries.

Oil prices make winners and losers. In general, oil importers will gain from low prices, while most oil exporters will suffer. Still, there are differences. While the United States, Norway, and the Gulf States can protect themselves with diversified economies and high hard currency reserves, the oil shock could bring some countries to the verge of economic default and political crisis.

Venezuela

Venezuela entered the period of low oil prices with an already frail economy ruined by the more than a decade-long socialist regime of Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. The oil price slump significantly worsened the country’s already failing economy.

More than 90 percent of Venezuela’s exports and hard currency reserves depend on oil, and with the price of oil 50 percent down, the country is close to a default.

Standard & Poor’s is the last in a line of rating agencies that downgraded Venezuela’s credit rating to junk status and the country’s currency is experiencing a constant devaluation trend. At the same time, inflation is expected to rise to 200 percent this year and the economy to shrink by 7 percent.

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Dumb and Dumber: U.S. Crude Oil Export

January 19, 2015

Dumb and Dumber: U.S. Crude Oil Export

Exporting crude oil and natural gas from the United States are among the dumbest energy ideas of all time.
Exporting gas is dumb.
Exporting oil is dumber.
The U.S. imports almost half of the crude oil that we use. We import 7.5 million barrels per day.  The chart below shows the EIA prediction that production will slowly fall and imports will rise (AEO 2014) after 2016.
(click image to enlarge)
This means that the U.S. will never be self-sufficient in oil. Not even close.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

US crude imports from Non-OPEC countries peaked 10 years before tight oil boom

December 5, 2014

US crude imports from Non-OPEC countries peaked 10 years before tight oil boom.

In part 3 of this series on the impact of US tight oil, we look at US crude oil imports from Non-OPEC countries. Excluding Canada – which is a special case due to its integration into the North American oil market – these imports peaked in 2002, long before the tight oil boom started.

(1)    Introduction: US oil imports from Non-OPEC countries

The following graph shows an overview on US oil imports (crude + products) since 1960

Fig 1: US oil imports from Non-OPEC countries 

Data are from the EIA Monthly Energy Review (table 3.3d Petroleum Trade). They start in 1960.
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/#petroleum

Imports peaked in 2005/06. The subsequent decline until 2010 was caused by high oil prices and the financial crisis.

22/7/2013   US oil demand peak was in 2007
http://crudeoilpeak.info/us-oil-demand-peak-was-in-2007

The speed of the decline was similar to the period following the 1st oil crisis. The tight oil boom started in 2010/11, causing a further decrease of around 750 kb/d.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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