Oil in Global Economy Series: Key oil market updates

Monday, January 15, 2018 12:32 PM UTC

While the oil market continues to focus on supply/demand fundamentals, these are some key updates that you need to keep a tab on,

U.S. oil rig count: The United States is continuing to see a surge in production. According to the latest report, the production declined to 9.49 million barrels per day. Despite fewer rigs operating compared to 2014/15, the production efficiency has pushed the overall production higher. As of latest report, the numbers of operating rigs rose from 742 to 752. The numbers of operating rigs have increased more than 150 percent since bottoming in May last year.
Iranian sanctions: President Trump signed sanctions waiver on Iran but announced that this is the last time he is signing it and would end Iran Nuclear Agreement if a better deal cannot be reached.
Venezuela crisis: Crisis continues in Venezuela. A country which has the largest reserve of crude oil is reportedly running low on gasoline. The oil production is dwindling too. Venezuelan parliament called President Maduro plan to raise $5.9 billion via cryptocurrencies backed by oil as illegal. Reuters’ report suggests that Venezuela’s oil production is down sharply in December to 1.7 million barrels per day.
Trump administration and offshore drilling: The oil production in the United States would surge rapidly by 2022 as the Trump administration proposed the most sweeping offshore drilling plan in history, a proposal that calls for opening up the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for drilling, while also opening up parts of the Gulf of Mexico that have been off limits.