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Richmond, Va. (1140wrva.com) Look for gas prices in the area to fall below $2 in the near future. Local gas industry analyst John Zehler, President of wholesaler Virginia Fuels, is predicting under $2 pump prices as the free fall in crude prices continues. Zehler says the price plunge has been going on for 6 months and it's going to be hard to turn it around until demand catches up with production. He says some folks think, with the current trend, we could see gas fall to $1.60 by the summer but admits it wild speculation.

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...

During most times, the oil industry may operate in a dog-eat-dog world. Now it’s also in an ant-and-grasshopper world. You know the story of those two insects–they’re paired together in Aesop’s Fable of the same name. The ant toils hard to save and scrimp for a rainy day, while the grasshopper flits around, enjoying the moment with no thought for tomorrow. Then winter comes and the ant has stores of food to last him for months; the grasshopper dies. It’s hard to think, especially given the lavish times of several months back when Niagaras of oil revenues were pouring into...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices sank more than two percent to 5 1/2-year lows early on Monday on concerns about a supply glut and slower global growth, feeding fears for energy and commodities producers and exporters. Investors were nervous after U.S. shares posted their biggest weekly fall in 2 1/2-years last week on losses led by energy sector, and as they expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to hint this week it is getting closer to raising interest rates. U.S. crude futures fell more than 2.5 percent at one point to as low as $56.25 per barrel (CLc1) in quiet early...

Dozens of new oil projects in the North Sea and Europe could be shelved as falling prices force international oil companies to tear up their investment plans. Global energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie has said that 32 potential European oil field developments containing 4.9bn barrels of oil equivalent are waiting for approval on more than $87bn (£55bn) of funding. These could be at risk should oil prices fall below $60 per barrel. “Major projects and investment in the UK and across Continental and Mediterranean Europe could be at risk if prices stay below $80 per barrel, as over 70pc of the...

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) is shelving a proposed pipeline that would have transported crude from North Dakota to Oklahoma, the company announced on Friday. The news came in the midst of a brutal slide in global oil prices that have raised concerns about whether U.S. companies will continue to build on the expansion of oil production. Middle East oil producers have yet to announce a cut in production to offset the drop in crude, in what some analysts say is a slow-bleed strategy designed to make pumping crude as uneconomic as possible for the world's fastest growing non-OPEC oil producer....

OPEC won't rush to cut oil production even if prices fall as low as $40 per barrel, one of the cartel's members said Sunday. The energy minister for the United Arab Emirates told Bloomberg at a Dubai conference that the middle eastern oil producers believe "the market will stabilize itself." "We are not going to change our minds because the prices went to $60 or to $40," Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. Even as it has watched prices dip, OPEC declined to cut back on production at its November meeting. Some observers had expected a production cut to boost the price of...

So who's crazy now? In 2011, the MSM mercilessly mocked Michele Bachmann for saying that if she became president, gas prices would fall to under $2/gallon. Typical was Time magazine, which called her prediction "fantasy." Time mocked Bachmann's drill, baby, drill policy, sniffing that if implemented, "prices at the pump might drop a whole 3 cents a gallon." But on CBS This Morning, there was top oil analyst Tom Kloza, saying that by Christmas, gas prices would be in the range of . . . $1.99-2.29 [I saw $2.18 here in Texas yesterday]. So who's crazy now, and where does...

The international price of oil has dropped by more than 40 percent in the past six months. To put it lightly, this presents a major challenge to oil-exporting nations. Many analysts agree that, of all oil rich countries, Venezuela is the most vulnerable. A combination of persistent fiscal deficits, out-of-control inflation, and plunging public support for President Nicolás Maduro threatens to make the nation of 30 million ungovernable. What can Maduro do to survive? In order to answer this question, we must differentiate between what Maduro can do, and what he most likely will (or, rather, will not) do.

We all know that the American energy revolution, led by the new technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has created a flood of new shale-oil and natural-gas production that has overwhelmed world markets and driven prices down by roughly 40 percent. End-of-week crude oil closed near $57 a barrel, and the national average gasoline price finished at $2.60. No matter what the naysayers are trying to sell, the new energy reality is unambiguously good for the U.S. and global economies. There may be some dislocations among countries, sectors, or companies, but the overwhelming impact is positive. In fact, the...

We all know that the American energy revolution, led by the new technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has created a flood of new shale-oil and natural-gas production that has overwhelmed world markets and driven prices down by roughly 40 percent. End-of-week crude oil closed near $57 a barrel, and the national average gasoline price finished at $2.60. No matter what the naysayers are trying to sell, the new energy reality is unambiguously good for the U.S. and global economies. There may be some dislocations among countries, sectors, or companies, but the overwhelming impact is positive. In fact, the...

The collapse of the oil price has snared its first West Australian victim with Red Fork Energy losing the support of its major lender. The Perth-based company drills shale rock onshore in the United States, producing oil and gas. But it is completely exposed to the US shale industry, which analysts say has become unviable at current oil prices. The oil price has tumbled 40 per cent in recent months, dragging down the value and margins of oil and gas producers. Red Fork's major lender, Guggenheim Corporate Funding, called in the receivers this week

The downturn in crude oil prices in recent months will not last forever, and what the market is experiencing now is not the old boom and bust period, an energy industry analyst told Rigzone. “I’m still incredibly bullish on the industry, and I do think it’s far more stable and resilient than it was in decades past,” KPMG’s Regina Mayor, an advisor for the consulting practice, said. “That’s not to say that it won’t experience a contraction or two, but it’s not the boom and bust cycle we’ve seen.” Already, there are signs that the future remains bright for the...

A global glut of oil will persist next year, putting further pressure on prices and raising the risk of unrest in some producing countries. That's the stark warning from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, which on Friday cut its forecast for global demand growth in 2015. It now sees demand growing by less than 1% next year. Oil prices have already fallen by more than 40% in six months, but there's little sign of that stimulating demand yet, or constraining production enough to remove excess supply. "Oil price drops are sometimes described as a 'tax cut' and a boon for...

The recent decline in crude oil prices has created the potential for weaker crude oil production. EIA's Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) includes indicators that provide details on the effect low prices may have on tight oil production, which accounts for 56% of total U.S. oil production. Analyzing these indicators and the changes in oil production following the drop in crude oil prices during the 2008-09 recession may offer some insight into possible near-term oil production trends. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma declined more than 31% from June to November 26 and another...

A Halliburton spokesperson confirmed to Rigzone that it will lay off approximately 1,000 employees from its Eastern Hemisphere operations, effective immediately. No layoffs have occurred or are currently planned as a result of Halliburton’s pending acquisition of Baker Hughes, Emily Mir, director of public relations at Halliburton, told Rigzone. “The decision to eliminate jobs is never easy,” said Mir in the email. “Our talented workforce is the foundation of everything that we accomplish, and we place the highest value on the commitment and hard work that our employees dedicate to building our company. “Yet, we believe these job eliminations are...

".....Yuma,Colorado, a farming town of 3,500 people near the Kansas border, celebrated last month as homegrown Republican Cory Gardner was elected to the U.S. Senate. Gardner, a high school football player and the son of a farm equipment dealer, defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to help the GOP gain control of the Senate in the second-most expensive congressional race of all time.Gardner represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District for four years, an expansive territory that covers the mostly flat and rural eastern third of the state. Farmers there mostly grow corn to feed cattle, and water comes from the quickly...

Every 10 or 20 years a series of watershed events come together that change the face of the international energy picture. The Saudi-led war on crude oil prices is one of these pivotal situations. And while others fret about what the OPEC production move means, I'm actually meeting with the guys who made the decision. I can tell you that what's unfolding here in the desert will have a decisive impact on producers, end users, and government/corporate policymakers worldwide. Of course, I've been involved in a fair share of all of this for over 40 years, from both the public...

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil took another dive Wednesday, plunging to five-year lows amid mounting evidence that global supplies are far outstripping demand. The U.S. Energy Department reported a surprise increase in domestic oil inventories and OPEC projected that demand for its crude would sink next year to levels not seen in more than a decade. Benchmark U.S. crude slumped 4.5 percent, or $2.88, to close at $60.94 a barrel on Wednesday. Prices have not been that low since July of 2009. U.S crude prices have fallen 17 percent in two weeks and are now 43 percent...

Oil is crashing. On Thursday, WTI crude oil was falling again, moving back below $61 a barrel. Much has been made of the "breakeven" oil price for the world's drilling projects. This is the level at which the price of oil covers the cost of extracting the oil.A simpler way to look at when the biggest oil players will start feeling the squeeze from lower prices is the "cash cost.""Without OPEC action, an outage, or other response, cash cost is the only true floor," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Longson said.Cash cost is basically what it takes to keep oil production...