Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,
As we roll into 2018, analysts and investors are more optimistic that the oil market will further tighten next year and support higher oil prices, but rising U.S. shale production will likely cap any significant price gains.
On the demand side, expectations are that global economic growth will support solid oil demand growth.
Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,
Oil prices are set to close out the year somewhere around 15 percent up, and the oil market looks more stable than it has in years.
But what does 2018 have in store?
Most analysts believe more of the same – inventory declines, some shale growth, a gradual increase in the oil price and eventually an end to the OPEC deal. But a lot of uncertainty remains.
Here are 5 key issues to watch as we head into 2018.
#1 U.S. shale growth
Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,
OPEC is on the verge of extending its production cuts for an additional nine months, pushing the deal through the end of 2018.
But the determination to keep the cuts in place comes at the same time that U.S. shale seems to be accelerating in response to higher oil prices.
One year after OPEC pulled off what many considered impossible, and on November 30, 2016 in Vienna the cartel managed to reduce oil production by most OPEC and several key non-OPEC nations by 1.2 million barrels daily in an effort to reduce the global oil glut, this time things are looking far more shaky, at least according to Goldman Sachs which in a Monday afternoon note writes that the outcome of OPEC’s November 30 meeting is far more uncertain than usual for two main reasons: i) Russia has yet to endorse Saudi Arabia’s proposal for a 9-month extension to production cuts and ii) fundamen
While OPEC has been presenting an optimistic facade in recent months, repeating at every opportunity that the global oil market is "rebalancing" and demand is rising, the oil production cartel made a rare slip today when it addressed what should not be named in public: US shale production. Speaking on Tuesday, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo called on U.S. shale oil producers to help curtail global oil supply, warning extraordinary measures might be needed next year to sustain the rebalanced market in the medium to long term.