OPEC nations grapple with oversupply of oil

Associated Press ^ | December 4, 2019 | Cathy Bussewitz

[Olog-hai]

The world may be heading for an even greater oversupply of oil, and that possibility — which could drive down fuel and energy prices — is hanging over members of the OPEC cartel as they head into negotiations Thursday.

The oil-producing nations will decide whether to stick with production cuts they’ve endured for the past three years, relax them or deepen them in the hopes of propping up prices. […]

Brent crude oil hovered around $61 per barrel Wednesday afternoon. Prices have fluctuated throughout the year, reaching nearly $75 per barrel in April after U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela limited world supply, but lingering trade tensions between the U.S. and China dampened economic expectations, pushing prices back down.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark crude, was trading at around $56 Wednesday afternoon, and its price followed a similar trajectory throughout the year.

As it stands, OPEC nations have agreed to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day through March 2020, and most analysts expect OPEC nations to extend those production cuts until at least summer. …

[wildcard_redneck]

OPEC is screwed. America is still a free market economy and the multitude of fracking companies will continue to make improvements to the technology and continue to drill more wells as long as there is a profit margin.

I predict that fracking will be the de facto drilling method in the foreseeable future and that costs to produce oil and gas in the US will fall well below that of all foreign countries.

The pirate-kings of the Middle East would be wise to have a bug-out plan when they can no longer rain money down on their well connected backers and the average citizens.

[abb]

The ragheads will go back to wandering about in the desert killing each other, like they did a thousand years ago.

I read a history of early oil development in the Middle East a few years ago. Prior to the British showing up and discovering oil, most of the population lived in Stone Age conditions. Camel dung was used as a cure for cuts and abrasions.

[fedupjohn]

Patiently waiting for that $2/gal. gas.

$2.31 here in NJ & they pump it for us at that price

[BwanaNdege]

$2.15 last week in Hickory, NC

[Bluebeard16]

Got gas for $2.29 a gallon in Gary, IN yesterday. Filled the tank before I headed back over the border to the sh*thole that is the over-taxed state of IL.