Flashback: Peak Oil

Figure it was an early Christmas present for folks who still fret over America’s energy security. On November 28, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Interior released its confirmation of huge new oil and gas reserves in West Texas and running west across New Mexico and into Arizona. Officials said that formations in the Delaware […]

Oil Prices Are at Risk of Spiking as the Venezuelan Crisis Deepens

The global oil market is a delicate thing. While roughly 100 million barrels per day (BPD) move around the world, the slightest change in the level of either supply or demand can wreak havoc on oil prices. That was abundantly evident last fall, when crude prices crashed 40% after supplies outpaced demand by around 2 […]

Exxon’s Billions Could Spawn a Permian Monster

Exxon Mobil Corp. took four hours on Wednesday morning to tell investors: “Hold on a bit, we got this.” But investors aren’t in a patient mood with high-spending oil and gas companies, and Exxon’s capital-expenditure budget – summary: not much change from $35 billion a year – drew the unsurprising response. Yet, looking beyond the next couple of […]

Big Oil Thinks Its Real Problem Might Be You

Two things to bear in mind when someone tells you they suffer from a problem of perception. First, perception shapes and sometimes outright supplants reality. Second, the complaint comes with a subtext of “it’s not me, it’s you.” Which brings us to Big Oil. Speaking at an industry conference in London last week, Amin Nasser, chief […]

Mexican president announces bailout for cash-strapped Pemex

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced a $3.9 billion bailout for the country’s cash-strapped, state-owned oil company Friday and promised it an additional $1.6 billion in revenue, making it a rescue package of up to $5.5 billion. Lopez Obrador has made rescuing Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, a centerpiece of his first 100 days in […]

Saudi Aramco Is Coming Out to Play

According to Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy and industry minister and chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., “the world is going to be Saudi Aramco’s playground.” If it is, then that will be partly because some others have ceded ground. In an interview with the Financial Times published this week, Al-Falih sketched out plans for Saudi […]

Who Will Get Citgo?

A dispute over a $626,860 deposit at Wells Fargo & Co. during the Chinese Revolution offers a glimpse into who may eventually control Citgo Petroleum in the current Venezuelan power struggle. Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, is trying to wrest ownership of Houston-based Citgo away from the current Venezuelan regime led by […]

The U.S. Faces A Catastrophic Food Supply Crisis In America As Farmers Struggle

American farmers are battling several issues when it comes to producing our food.  Regulated low prices, tariffs, and the inability to export have all cut into the salaries of farmers.  They are officially in crisis mode, just like the United States’ food supply. “The farm economy’s in pretty tough shape,” said John Newton, chief economist at the […]

ExxonMobil gambles on growth

OFF THE coast of Guyana, 160km beyond the ramshackle, rainbow-coloured roofs and the sea wall meant to protect the low-lying capital, past the mud flats and into the deep, churning Atlantic, a vast drilling vessel sits almost perfectly still. Thrusters work constantly to keep the boat’s centre within a three-metre radius above a well head […]

Oil Supermajors Smash Analyst Estimates

The world’s biggest oil companies are pumping out cash like crude’s at $100 a barrel again, and investors love it. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp. and BP Plc smashed analysts’ earnings estimates for the fourth quarter, giving investors assurance that their dividends and buybacks are secure even with oil trading near […]

Peak Gold and the Coming Supply Crunch

During the lackluster and otherwise unremarkable trading of 2018, a hugely important development took place in the precious metals markets. Gold production, in the estimation of some top industry insiders, peaked. Peak gold represents the point at which the total number of ounces being pulled out of the ground by miners reaches a maximum. It […]

Saudi Arabia looking to buy ‘billions of dollars’ of US natural gas assets

From Reuters: Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil producer, is looking to acquire natural gas assets in the United States and is willing to spend “billions of dollars” to become a global gas player, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday. Amin Nasser told Reuters in an interview that his company wants to increase its U.S. […]

Fracking in 2018: Another Year of Pretending to Make Money

2018 was the year the oil and gas industry promised that its darling, the shale fracking revolution, would stop focusing on endless production and instead turn a profit for its investors. But as the year winds to a close, it’s clear that hasn’t happened. Instead, the fracking industry has helped set new records for U.S. oil production while continuing to lose […]

How to Value an Oil and Gas Company

In part one of this series, we looked the structure of the oil market, the defining features of the companies that comprise it and the factors affecting oil price. In part two, we will introduce some metrics commonly used to model future cash flows in order to more accurately value these businesses. Cash is king In […]

Mexico Confirms It Completed 2019 Oil Hedge at $55 a Barrel

Mexico’s Finance Ministry confirmed that it spent about $1.23 billion to protect 2019 revenues against falling crude prices in the world’s largest annual oil deal. The oil producer locked in hedges at $55 a barrel, equivalent to the price approved by lawmakers for the 2019 budget, according to a Finance Ministry statement. The total expense […]

The Scenarios Of The Collapse – “The World Is Utterly Unprepared”

2019 has started more calmly after a very volatile year-end in the markets. Focus has been on the trade deal between China and the US and the words of the central bankers, most notably those of Jay Powell. However, this is all just a distraction, a side-show. The market volatility was only the first sign […]

How a Global Collapse Will Affect American Farmers

Are we heading for a global financial collapse? What can we expect from the trade wars? Should we build a wall? Geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan will be sharing his answers to those questions, and many more, at the Land Investment Expo on Friday, January 25, 2019, at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa. […]

China taking on U.S. dollar, forging ahead in digital payment

  While China has made major strides in catching up with the United States in terms of economic power, it still lags far behind in finance. In various ways, the dollar still reigns supreme over the yuan. However, that is not stopping China from carving out new sectors of influence in digital technology and artificial […]

Exxon asks EPA to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas

Flames from a flaring pit near a well in the Bakken Oil Field in North Dakota. Photo: Orjan F. Ellingvag/Corbis via Getty Images ExxonMobil Corp., the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions of methane from all new and existing oil and gas wells across the […]

Oil God Forecasts Price Move

If you want to place a bet on oil right now, you’re probably better off betting on it going up than going down. If you want to place a bet on oil right now, you’re probably better off betting on it going up than going down. That’s what Andy Hall, an oil trader nicknamed God, […]

Hess Corp sees oil output growing 10 percent per year through 2025

Hess Corp said on Wednesday it expects oil and gas output to grow more than 10 percent a year compounded through 2025, touting development of its Bakken shale and offshore Guyana projects. Pumpjacks taken out of production temporarily stand idle at a Hess site The company projects higher margins will drive compound annual cash flow […]

The ‘Everything Bubble” Has Popped

Now that the world’s central banking cartel is taking a long-overdue pause from printing money and handing it to the wealthy elite, the collection of asset price bubbles nested within the Everything Bubble are starting to burst. The cartel (especially the ECB and the Fed) is hoping it can gently deflate these bubbles it created, but that’s […]

World Bank Warns Of Extreme Volatility In Oil Markets

After several months of oil price rises and then a sharp reversal over the last few weeks, world oil markets are in for more heightened volatility next year because of scarce spare production capacity among OPEC members. This warning comes from the World Bank, which in the latest edition of its Russia Economic Report said […]

The Oil Industry Is Facing A “Capex Conundrum”

Oil industry executives are surely pleased with themselves this year, with both large and small companies reporting improved financials after years of struggling. A Reuters survey finds a significant shift towards profitability for the U.S. shale industry after years of rising debt and negative cash flow. Reuters analyzed 32 independent shale companies, and about a […]

Oil and Bitcoin highlight growing risk of market crash

The risk of a “flash crash” in markets is rising, strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, after a week in which previously-booming cryptocurrency Bitcoin tumbled, oil sank, and investors piled into stocks perceived as safer. FILE PHOTO: A fisherman pulls in his net as an oil tanker is seen at the […]

Oil’s in a Bear Market Again

Crude oil prices fell into bear-market territory, as prices fell more than 1% in Thursday trading. Crude has been weighed down by signs of eroding global economic growth, wilting demand and even the U.S.’s decision to offer waivers on sanctions of Iran. Brent crude dropped 2% to $70.65 a barrel on Thursday, while West Texas […]

Crude’s Collapse & The ‘C’ Word

Why aren’t more people talking about this? It’s a huge development and nary a peep anywhere. The mainstream media is filled with baited expectations for 3% wage growth on Payroll Friday. All eyes are on the labor market, which is a lagging indication, instead of on the oil market, which is forward looking. As of […]

US Shale Oil Industry: Catastrophic Failure Ahead

While the U.S. Shale Industry produces a record amount of oil, it continues to be plagued by massive oil decline rates and debt.  Moreover, even as the companies brag about lowering the break-even cost to produce shale oil, the industry still spends more than it makes.  When we add up all the negative factors weighing down […]

New York’s AG claims that Exxon Mobil has been lying to itself

Before resigning this year amid allegations of sexual abuse, former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman spent nearly three years trying to harpoon his great white political whale— Exxon Mobil . His hunt failed to uncover malfeasance, but the AG’s office is suing Exxon anyway in a case that should be laughed out of court. […]

Big Oil’s Big Payday Finally Arrives

Big Oil’s big payday has finally arrived. The question now is how to spend the extra cash. Investors will be reading the third-quarter tea leaves to discern whether executives plan to boost dividends and buybacks, hike spending on shiny new mega projects, or perhaps even do both. What they do know is that fresh sources […]

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LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• More shale, who cares? Saudi Arabia pushes for at least $70 oil
• Flashback: Peak Oil
• Venezuela collapse: looting, hunger, blackouts
• Richard Heinberg: The House is on Fire
• America’s Venezuela Strategy: Coup By Sheer Narrative Control

• US Slashes Oil Production Forecast
• Energy and oil majors turn to rural Africa in grab for world’s next billion customers
• Mexican president does not ‘rule out’ Pemex listing in local market
• Zombie-filled Death Ships
• Saudi, Indian Oil Ministers Meet On Saturday
• Morning Collapse Update