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Saudi Arabia turns oil weapon on Iran: Kemp By Reuters Published: 13:22 GMT, 18 April 2016 | Updated: 13:22 GMT, 18 April 2016 By John Kemp LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's decision to scupper negotiations on a coordinated oil output freeze in Doha on Sunday seems to confirm a significant shift in the kingdom's oil policy. For decades, the kingdom has insisted it does not wield oil as a diplomatic weapon, but at the weekend it did just that as part of an intensifying conflict with Iran. ("Saudi-Iran tensions scupper deal to freeze oil output", Reuters, April 17)...

The most important characteristic of the U.S. oil industry is inertia - or to put it another way, drilling and production respond sluggishly even to a large change in prices. Since 1974, there have been four episodes in which oil prices declined sharply over a relatively short time (ignoring the brief price spike and equally rapid reversal in 1990 associated with preparations for the first war between the United States and Iraq). These price slumps occurred between (1) December 1985 and July 1986; (2) January 1997 and December 1998; (3) November 2000 and December 2001; and (4) July 2008 and...

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week made no change to its production target despite a 40 percent slide in oil prices over just five months, causing some commentators to pronounce the cartel irrelevant. If OPEC cannot act to defend the prices and revenues of its member countries, does the organisation still serve any purpose? There is an assumption among some commentators that OPEC is only relevant and working if ministers can reach a production agreement in response to shifts in prices, and that strong disagreement is a sign of dysfunction. But the record suggests that ambitious...

"The limit of production in this country (the United States) is being reached, and although new fields undoubtedly await discovery, the yearly (oil) output must inevitably decline, because the maintenance of output each year necessitates the drilling of an increasing number of wells. "Such an increase becomes impossible after a certain point is reached, not only because of a lack of acreage to be drilled, but because of the great number of wells that will ultimately have to be drilled." This assessment could have been written recently about the outlook for oil production from North Dakota's Bakken formation or by...

Petroleum engineers are among the best paid professionals in the United States. Only chief executives and some specialist doctors earned more last year, according to federal government pay data. Petroleum engineers were paid an average of $132,000 a year, with the top 10 percent on more than $187,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These figures include everyone from the newest graduates to the most experienced engineers with decades of experience, and are based on median earnings in May 2013. Petroleum engineers earned almost four times as much as the average employee across the economy, who was on...

Fed unleashes greatest bubble of all: John Kemp Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:08am EST -- John Kemp is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own -- By John Kemp Like the sorcerer's apprentice, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his predecessor Alan Greenspan have unleashed a series of ever-larger asset bubbles they cannot control. Now the Fed's decision to cut interest rates to between zero and 0.25 percent, coupled with a promise to keep them there for an extended period, and the threat to conduct even more unconventional operations in the longer-dated Treasury market risks the biggest bubble...

...In almost 20 years of writing about oil markets and the Middle East I have not come across anyone who could consistently offer a deep insight into the government's policymaking.... Diplomats and even some economists often assert Saudi Arabia upholds its part of the bargain, in part, by holding spare production capacity with which to meet disruptions in oil supplies from other producers. Only Saudi Arabia has the financial capability and the foresight to invest in spare capacity to help stabilise global oil prices. The problem is that there is almost no evidence to support this claim. Since the kingdom's...

The United States imported more than 7 million barrels per day of crude oil during the first seven months of the year, despite the shale boom, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Crude imports have fallen from a peak of almost 14 million barrels per day in 2006, but they still account for almost half the barrels processed by U.S. refineries. Some observers have expressed unease about lifting the ban on crude exports while the United States continues to rely on imports to meet such a high proportion of its needs. "With regard to the oil export question,...

The independent companies at the forefront of the U.S. shale boom will finally earn enough from selling oil and gas to cover their capital expenditures next year, for the first time since 2008. Free cash flow, which measures operating cash flow minus capital spending, for the 25 leading independent oil and gas producers is expected to show a surplus of $2.4 billion in 2015, according to a consensus forecast in the Financial Times. That compares with a shortfall of around $9 billion in 2013 and $32 billion in 2012. ("Shale oil and gas producers' finances lift growth hopes" FT, Aug...

Drilling for oil and gas deposits outside North America has hit the highest level in three decades, led by big exploration and production programmes in the Middle East and Africa. More than 1,300 drilling rigs have been operating on average over the last six months, the greatest number since 1983, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of rigs is up 20 percent compared with 2008 and has more than doubled since hitting a nadir in 1999. The boom is being led by the Middle East, where the number of rigs operating has tripled since 1999, and Africa,...

There is nothing remotely surprising about the sharp fall in oil prices over the last four months, except perhaps the timing. The fundamental forces driving prices lower (rising supply outside OPEC from shale and sluggish demand growth as result of conservation and substitution) have been clearly visible for at least two years. "If the shale revolution can be sustained in the United States, and successfully exported to other countries, some combination of OPEC production cuts or lower oil prices to encourage demand and forestall more investment, will be inevitable by 2015-16," I wrote last year ("Saudi Arabia must decide response...

Cutting the cost of everything from salaries and steel pipes to seismic surveys and drilling equipment is the central challenge for the oil and gas industry over the next five years. The tremendous increase in exploration and production activity around the world over the last ten years has strained the global supply chain and been accompanied by a predictable increase in operating and capital costs. When oil and gas prices were rising strongly, petroleum producers and their contractors could afford to absorb cost increases. But as oil and gas production have moved back into line with demand, and prices have...

Oklahoma is emerging as the next big shale oil play, with production growing faster than in any other U.S. state apart from Texas and North Dakota.

State-of-the-art American fracking technology is coming to China's vast shale deposits as a result of a joint venture between FTS International and Sinopec announced on Tuesday. SinoFTS, as the joint venture will be called, marks an important milestone on the road to exporting the North American shale revolution around the world. FTSI, formerly known as Frac Tech, was one of the first providers more than a decade ago of hydraulic fracturing equipment and services in the Texas Barnett shale, the first shale basin to be developed in the United States. Since then, the company has grown into the largest supplier...

North Dakota's rapidly rising oil output continues to defy the sceptics, who have predicted that production would stop growing as declining output from existing wells offsets extra production from new drilling. Oil production soared to 911,000 barrels per day in August, up more than 200,000 bpd compared with the same month last year, the state's Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) said this week. Production is on course to hit 1 million bpd by the end of the year or early 2014, according to the DMR. By the end of August, 9,452 wells were in production. But another 450 had been...

California's lawmakers have ensured the state will remain a major oil and gas producer by approving new legislation allowing hydraulic fracturing and acid treatments to rejuvenate its ageing wells in exchange for strict controls and tougher enforcement. Senate Bill No 4 (SB 4), which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law on Sept. 20, directs the state Department of Conservation and other agencies to adopt new rules and regulations covering well construction, fracturing and other well stimulation treatments by the start of 2015. The chemicals used will have to be disclosed to regulators and published, subject to special treatment for trade...