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All OPEC data below was taken from the April issue of The OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report. The data is through March 2018 and is thousands of barrels per day.

OPEC crude oil production dropped just over 200,000 barrels per day in March. They are now just over one million barrels per day below their fourth-quarter 2016 average.

Only the UAE showed any significant gain among OPEC members.

Algeria took a hit in March, down almost 50,000 barrels per day. They reached a new low of under 1,000,000 barrels per day.

Angola took the biggest his of all OPEC nations in March. They dropped 82,000 barrels per day to reach their lowest level in almost 7 years.

Ecuador has slowed their decline during the last two months.

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

OPEC February Production Data

March 15, 2018

OPEC February Production Data

The March OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report is out with the February production data. All data is through February 2o18 and is in thousand barrels per day,

OPEC crude only production was down 77,000 barrels per day in February but that was after January production had been revised downward 40,000 barrels per day.

It seems most OPEC countries want to say they are producing less than what “secondary sources” say they are producing. Either they are correct or they are cheating on their quota.

Not much happening in Algeria. They just continue their slow decline.

Angola seems to be holding steady.

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

OPEC January Oil Production Data

February 14, 2018

OPEC January Oil Production Data

The OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report is out production data for January 2018. All data, unless otherwise noted, is through January 2018 and is in thousand barrels per day.

OPEC crude only production has held steady for three months. However, this chart masks the fact that November production was revised downward by 45,000 barrels per day and December production was revised downward by 107,000 barrels per day. January production was 76,000 barrels per day below last years 12 month average of 32,378,000 barrels per day and 247,000 barrels per day lower than OPEC’s 2016 12 month average of 32,549,000 barrels per day.

OPEC oil production was down just 8,100 barrels per day in January. November production was revised down 45,000 bpd and December production was revised down by 107,000 bpd. The largest revisions were for Venezuela. Their production was revised down 28,000 bpd in November and 98,000 bpd in December.

Algeria, like at least 8 other OPEC countries, is in continuous decline.

Angola peaked in 2008 at a 12 month average of 1,870,000 barrels per day are currently about a quarter of a million barrels per day below that number.

Ecuador’s crude oil production increased steadily for four and one-half years, from mid-2010 to January of 2015 and has been on a bumpy decline for the last three year

Equatorial Guinea’s chart speaks for itself. I really don’t know why they joined OPEC. Their production is clearly in decline but is not enough to make much difference either way.

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

OPEC December Oil Production

January 19, 2018

OPEC December Oil Production

The latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report is out with production numbers for December 2017. All data is in thousand barrels per day.

Total OPEC crude only production was up by 42,400 barrels per day in December. However, that was after November production was revised downward by 75,000 bpd. So OPEC production was actually down 33,000 bpd from what was reported last month.

I have posted OPEC production according to “secondary sources” as well as OPEC production based on “direct communication” in order to show what Venezuela said they were producing when called by the editors of the MOMR. More about that below Venezuela’s production chart.

Algeria was up 30,000 bpd in December but the downward trend continues.

Angola’s crude oil production is holding steady.

Ecuador’s latest peak was in 2015 and they have been in slow decline since then.

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

OPEC November Oil Production

December 16, 2017

OPEC November Oil Production

The OPEC data below was taken from the December OPEC Monthly Oil Maret Report. All data is through November 2017 unless otherwise noted.

OPEC crude oil production declined by 133,500 barrels per day in November.

Algeria was up slightly in November after that huge decline in October.

Angola was the biggest loser in November, down 108,700 barrels per day.

Ecuador, though holding its own for the last year, appears to be in slow decline.

I have managed to cobble together an estimate of Equatorial Guinea’s historical C+C production. I had the EIA’s production numbers through June 2013. I subtracted 10% for “other liquids”, then merged that with the OPEC MOMR data that started in 2016. However, Equatorial Guinea’s production is not enough to make much difference.

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

OPEC October Production Data

November 15, 2017

OPEC October Production Data

All data below is based on the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report.

All data is through October 2017 and is in thousand barrels per day.

I have now included Equatorial Guneia although I only have data from January 2015 from OPEC’s secondary sources. The January 2015 E. Guneia data was extended back to January 2005. I know this is inaccurate but production from E. Guneia is so small it will make little difference.

OPEC crude oil production dropped by 151,000 barrels per day in October.

Algeria took a hit in October, down 38,400 bpd.

Angola was up almost 70,000 bpd in October.

Not much is happening in Ecuador. They were up 7,100 bpd in October.

I do not have historical data for Equatorial Guinea. The OPEC MOMR gives average annual production data for 2015 and 2016 and quarterly data for the first two quarters of 2017. But now we will have monthly data from now on. However, they produce the least of all OPEC countries and their production will make little difference.

Gabon, another of the also-rans. Any change in their production will have only a small effect.

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

How OPEC Continues To Cheat On Its Own Deal

October 11, 2017

How OPEC Continues To Cheat On Its Own Deal

All data below is based on the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report.

All data is through September 2017 and is in thousand barrels per day.

(Click to enlarge)

The above chart does not include the 14th member of OPEC that was recently added, Equatorial Guinea. I do not have historical data for Equatorial Guinea so I may not add them at all. OPEC production has held steady for the past four months. Equatorial Guinea production is tiny, 141,000 bpd so their monthly change in production can be ignored without much effect. OPEC 14 production was up 88,000 barrels per day in September. But that was after their August production had been revised downward by 82,000 bpd.
The OPEC 13, (not including Equatorial Guinea), peaked in 2016 at 32,385 kbpd and are down 150 kbpd for the first 9 months of 2017. Please note that when I say “peaked” I mean “peaked so far“. I am well aware of the fact that OPEC, or some OPEC nations may have further peaks in the future.

(Click to enlarge)

Not much is happening in Algeria. They peaked in 2008 at 1,393 kbpd and their annual average is down 338 kbpd since then.
Note: Here and below the annual average being down from the peak, I am referring to the average of the first 9 months of 2017. And, of course, I am aware that there may be further peaks down the road although that is highly unlikely for all but a couple of OPEC nations. That is because every OPEC nation is currently producing every barrel they possibly can and that includes Saudi Arabia.

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

OPEC August Crude Oil Production

September 12, 2017

OPEC August Crude Oil Production

All data below is based on the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report.

All data is through August 2017 and is in thousand barrels per day.

The above chart does not include the 14th member of OPEC that was just added, Equatorial Guinea. I do not have historical data for Equatorial Guinea so I may not add them at all. OPEC production has held steady for the past three months. Their production was down 79,000 barrels per day in August but that is not a big drop when production is over 32.5 million barrels per day.

August production was down 79,100 barrels per day.

Not much is happening in Algeria. They peaked almost 10 years ago and have been in slow decline ever since.

Angola peaked in 2010 but have been holding pretty steady since.

Ecuador peaked in 2015.

Gabon’s oil production dropped 32,300 bpd in August.

Iran has obviously reached peak post sanctions production. Like every other OPEC member, they are producing every barrel they possibly can.

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

End of the U.S. Major Oil Industry Era: Big Trouble At ExxonMobil

November 12, 2016

END OF THE U.S. MAJOR OIL INDUSTRY ERA: Big Trouble At ExxonMobil

The era of the mighty U.S. major oil industry is coming to an end as the country’s largest petroleum company is in big trouble. While ExxonMobil has been the most profitable U.S. oil company in the past, it suffered its worst year on record.

For example, just four years ago, ExxonMobil enjoyed a $45 billion net income profit in 2012. Now compare that to a total $5 billion net income gain for the first three-quarters of 2016. If Exxon continues to report disappointing results for the remainder of the year, its net income will have declined a stunning 85% since 2012.

Actually, the situation at Exxon is much worse if we dig a little deeper.

profitability is much less when we factor in capital expenditures

To understand the real profitability of a company we have to look at its cash flow, or what is known as free cash flow. Free cash flow is calculated by deducting capital expenditures (CAPEX) from the company’s cash from operations. ExxonMobil’s free cash flow declined from $24.4 billion in 2011 to $1 billion for the first nine months of 2016:

steve-1

So, here we can see that Exxon’s free cash flow of $1 billion (2016 YTD) is down 95% from $24.4 billion in 2011. The reason for the rapidly falling free cash flow is due to skyrocketing capital expenditures and falling oil prices. But, this is only part of the picture.

If we include dividend payouts, Exxon’s financial situation drops down another notch. While free cash flow does not include dividend payouts, the money Exxon pays its shareholders must come from its available cash. By including dividend payouts, the company was $8.3 billion in the hole in 2015:

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

Bakken Production Down, OPEC Production Up

October 16, 2016

Bakken Production Down, OPEC Production Up

North Dakota has released August production data for the Bakken and also for all North Dakota.

bakken-bpd

Bakken production was down 46,433 barrels per day to 930,931 bod, All North Dakota was down 48,695 bpd to 981,039 bpd. This is first time North Dakota has been below 1 million barrels per day since March of 2014.

bakken-bpd-per-well

Bakken barrels per day per well dropped by 4 to 97 while all North Dakota bpd per well dropped by 3 to 76.

From the Director’s Cut

Oil Production

July 31,921,757 barrels = 1,029,734 barrels/day
August 30,412,200 barrels = 981,039 barrels/day (preliminary)(all-time high was Dec 2014 at 1,227,483 barrels/day)

Producing Wells

July 13,265
August 13,289 (preliminary)(all-time high)

Permitting

July 86 drilling and 0 seismic
August 99 drilling and 1 seismic September 63 drilling and 1 seismic (all time high was 370 in 10/2012)

ND Sweet Crude Price

July $35.57/barrel
August $33.73/barrel
September $32.98/barrel Today $39.75/barrel (all-time high was $136.29 7/3/2008)

Rig Count

July    31
August        32
September   34 Today’s rig count is 33 (all-time high was 218 on 5/29/2012)

Comments:

The drilling rig count increased one from July to August, then increased two from August to September, and is down one more from September to today. Operators remain committed to running the minimum number of rigs while oil prices remain below $60/barrel WTI. The number of well completions rose from 44(final) in July to 59(preliminary) in August. Oil price weakness is the primary reason for the slow-down and is now anticipated to last into at least the fourth quarter of this year and perhaps into the second quarter of 2017. There were no significant precipitation events, 11 days with wind speeds in excess of 35 mph (too high for completion work), and no days with temperatures below -10F.

The new October OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report is out with crude only production numbers for September 2016. All charts are in thousand barrels per day.

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

Mexico, China and Beyond

September 25, 2016

Mexico, China and Beyond

Ron Patterson’s post asking if China’s oil production has peaked reminded me of Mexico
which also produces mainly from supergiant fields. Mexico’s oil production peaked in 2004 and has averaged a 3.5 percent per annum decline rate since, with a peak yearly decline rate of 9 percent in 2008. China’s oil production has fallen 10% from its peak in 2015. Part of that is oil price-related as the Daqing oil field has an operating cost of $46 per barrel and could reverse as the oil price rises. The comparison of China and Mexico with a projection to 2023 is shown in the following figure:

da-1

The production histories tracked each other from 1965 until they parted ways in 2005. Themainstay of Mexican production had been the Cantarell field as shown by this graph from The Economist with data up to 2011:

da-2

Cantarell production had been pumped up with nitrogen injection until sudden collapse in2005. Part of the decline from Cantarell was offset by increased production from Ku-Maloob-Zaap. Mexico is now producing slightly more oil than it consumes. In the absence of successful privately funded oil exploration from here, Mexico will become an importer of both oil and food.

A good description of the Chinese oil production industry is provided by a paper by Aleklett, from the University of Uppsala, et al from 2010 using data up to 2007. One field, Daqing discovered in 1959, had been producing about a million barrels per day for close to 30 years:

da-3

Table 2 from that paper is reproduced following. It shows that only one of the Chinese giant oilfields would not have entered decline by 2015:

da-4

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

Bakken July Production Data

September 17, 2016

Bakken July Production Data

North Dakota has just come out with their oil production numbers for July 2016. Bakken production was up by 3,046 barrels per day while all North Dakota production was up 2,376 barrels per day.

bakken-bpd

The EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report missed it for July. They will make the correction next month.

bakken-bpd-per-well

Barrels per day per well held steady in July, 91 for the Bakken and 79 for all North Dakota.

bakken-monthly-change

The trend is down in spite of the slight increase in July.

From the Director’s Cut

Oil Production

June 30,813,924 barrels = 1,027,131 barrels/day
July 31,914,711 barrels = 1,029,507 barrels/day (preliminary)(all time high was Dec 2014 at 1,227,483 barrels/day)
977,342 barrels per day or 95% from Bakken and Three Forks
52,165 barrels per day or 5% from legacy conventional pools

Producing Wells

June 13,248
July 13,255 (preliminary)(all time high) 11,168 wells or 84% are now unconventional Bakken Three forks wells 2,087 wells or 16% produce from legacy conventional pools

Permitting

June 65 drilling and 0 seismic
July 86 drilling and 0 seismic
August 99 drilling and 1 seismic (all time high was 370 in 10/2012)

ND Sweet Crude Price

June $38.75/barrel
July $35.57/barrel
August $33.73/barrel
Today $32.00/barrel (all time high was $136.29 7/3/2008)

Rig Count

June 28
July 31
August 32
Today’s rig count is 33 (all time high was 218 on 5/29/2012)

Comments:

The drilling rig count increased three from June to July, then increased one from July to August, and increased one more from August to today. Operators remain committed to running the minimum number of rigs while oil prices remain below $60/barrel WTI. The number of well completions dropped from 45(final) in June to 41(preliminary) in July. Oil price weakness is the primary reason for the slow down and is now anticipated to last into at least the fourth quarter of this year and perhaps into the second quarter of 2017. There was one significant precipitation event, 12 days with wind speeds in excess of 35 mph (too high for completion work), and no days with temperatures below 10F.

Over 98% of drilling now targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

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

North Dakota down over 70,000 bpd in April

June 18, 2016

North Dakota down over 70,000 bpd in April

The Bakken and North Dakota production data is out. Big surprise. The Bakken was down 69,420 barrels per day in April while all North Dakota was down 70,414 bpd.

Bakken & ND Amplified

Largest drop ever in North Dakota production. The Bakken is now under one million barrels per day.

Bakken Change

This gives you some idea of the erratic nature of North Dakota production. But as you can see, the decline is accelerating.

Bakken DPR Compare

The EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report gives past Bakken production numbers, which includes the Montana portion, and future estimates for the next couple of months. The average difference between North Dakota production and total Bakken production has been about 27,500 bpd. However for April the difference is almost 63,000 barrels. So it looks like for once the DPR estimate is way too conservative. The DPR estimate is through July while the north Dakota data is only through April.

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

EIA World Crude Oil Production

June 4, 2016

EIA World Crude Oil Production

The EIA has apparently stopped publishing its International Energy Statistics. Instead they are now publishing an abbreviated version on their Total Energy web page titled: Tabel 11.1b World Crude Oil Production. Here they publish crude + condensate production numbers for Persian Gulf Nations, Selected Non-OPEC Countries, Total Non-OPEC and World. The “Selected Non-OPEC Producers are Canada, China, Egypt, Mexico, Norway, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. They have just released their latest data through February 2016.

All the data below is in thousand barrels per day and through February 2016 unless otherwise noted.

World C+C

They have world C+C peaking, so far, in November 2015 at 80,630,000 bpd. February production was 79,653,000 bpd, or 977,000 bpd below the peak. World C+C production, they say, averaged 80,035,000 in 2015. Average for the first two months of 2016 was 79,933.000 or 102,000 bpd below the average for 2015.

So with world production continuing to decline, there is little doubt that 2016 production will be well below 2015 production.

Non-OPEC

They have Non-OPEC peaking in March 2015 at 46,504,000 bpd and down by 925,000 bpd in February to 45,579,000 bpd.

OPEC C+C

They also publish OPEC members data, Table 11.1a. OPEC C+C failed to breach its 2012 peak but did reach 34,562,000 bpd in July 2015 but by February 2016 it was down 488,000 bpd to 34,074,000 bpd.

Canada

This is the EIA’s version of Canadian production. It looks exactly like Canada’s National Energy Board data except the EIA’s data is about 150,000 bpd less than Canada’s NEB shows. Obviously Canada is counting something that the EIA is not. Look for Canada’s production to decline substantially in 2016. And those May wildfires will not help at all.

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

North Dakota Oil Production Declining But Slowly

May 14, 2016

North Dakota Oil Production Declining But Slowly

The North Dakota Oil Production Stats are out. North Dakota crude oil production was down just less than 10,000 barrels per day.

North Dakota BPD

Bakken crude oil production was down 7,743 bpd in March while all North Dakota production was down 9,846 barrels per day.

From the Director’s Cut:

Producing Wells
February 13,017
March 13,024 (preliminary) (all-time high was Oct 2015 13,190)
Permitting
February 70 drilling and 1 seismic
March 56 drilling and 4 seismic
April 66 drilling and 0 seismic (all time high was 370 in 10/2012)

ND Sweet Crude Price
February $18.07/barrel
March $26.62/barrel
April $26.87/barrel
Today $33.00/barrel (all-time high was $136.29 7/3/2008)

Rig Count
February 40
March 32
April 29
Today’s rig count is 27 (lowest since July 2005 when it was 27)(all-time high was 218 on 5/29/2012)

Comments:

The drilling rig count fell 8 from February to March, 3 from March to April, and 2 more from April to today. Operators remain committed to running the minimum number of rigs while oil prices remain below $60/barrel WTI. The number of well completions fell from 64(final) in February to 59(preliminary) in March. Oil price weakness is the primary reason for the slow-down and is now anticipated to last into at least the third quarter of this year and perhaps into the second quarter of 2017. There were no significant precipitation events, 4 days with wind speeds in excess of 35 mph (too high for completion work), and no days with temperatures below -10F.

Over 98% of drilling now targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

Estimated wells waiting on completion services is 920, up 13 from the end of February to the end of March. Estimated inactive well count is 1,523, up 84 from the end of February to the end of March.

Bakken Bpd 2

Looking at the longer term chart we can see that the increase in production beginning in around 2011 was very steep while the decline has been less dramatic.
Bakken Change

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

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