Contributor
Diane Munro has written on energy issues for over 35 years. She was previously a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and is currently a contract editor for the Paris-based International Energy Agency, where she earlier served as a senior oil market analyst.
A substantial drawdown on global oil stocks is forecast for the fourth quarter amid record oil demand, accelerating the rise in oil prices to the $100 per barrel threshold.
Saudi Arabia extends steep “voluntary” production cut through August but a weaker-than-expected Chinese economic recovery weighs heavily on market sentiment.
Despite a “voluntary” production cut announced by Saudi Arabia for July, economic uncertainty overshadowed the June 4 OPEC+ meeting.
OPEC+ supply cuts starting in May could aggravate an expected oil supply deficit in the second half of 2023 at a period of greater economic uncertainty.
The Gulf Arab states are casting a wide net in their pursuit of gas-supply security.
President Donald J. Trump’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions has injected a much higher level of volatility into oil markets, with prices scaling new heights to levels not seen since 2014.
Bahrain made its largest-ever oil find off the kingdom’s western coast, with Khalij al-Bahrain Basin estimated to contain at least 80 billion barrels of tight oil and 10-20 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, officials announced on April 1.
OPEC may need to maintain crude oil supplies at current lower levels for longer than planned, as surging U.S. shale oil dominates global oil markets for the next several years, according to a new report from the IEA.
Global oil prices opened the new year on a high note, reaching three-year peaks by mid-January, spurred on by robust winter demand growth, supply outages, and the strong commitment by OPEC and its non-OPEC partners to maintain production curbs through the end of 2018.
Gulf Arab energy producers are increasing investments in oil and gas projects after several years of weaker activity following the mid-2014 price collapse.
