opec posts, articles, and infographics

More Long-Term Pressure on Oil Prices

January 18, 2012 by Geoffrey Styles
with 300 views

A pair of items in today's Financial Times could signal a longer run of high oil prices, even if Europe were to slip into recession and economic growth elsewhere slow. Geoffrey Styles explains how the combination of Saudi Arabia's increase of its target oil price and Venezuela's volatile leader will affect long run oil prices. [read more]

Petroleum Prices Set Records in 2011

January 11, 2012 by Geoffrey Styles
with 239 views

Without much fanfare, the Energy Information Agency of the US Department of Energy released a report on 2011 energy commodity prices yesterday. It confirmed that crude oil and key petroleum products set annually averaged price records last year. This largely snuck up on us, because it occurred without the kind of dramatic price spike we experienced in 2008 or in the oil crises of the 1970s. Prices rose early in the year, during the Libyan revolution, and they didn't fall much, subsequently. [read more]

Energy Pricing Predictions for 2012

January 1, 2012 by Matthew Cook
with 935 views

The oil price has rarely fallen below $100 a barrel since the Arab Spring threatened supplies at the start of 2011. Libya is now nearly back at full-scale production post-war, which some suggest could increase global supply and theoretically lead to price falls. But other analysts believe other Opec powers such as Saudi ... [read more]

Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear Energy Ambitions

August 23, 2011 by Dan Yurman
with 2,674 views

Curbing domestic oil use is a key driver Turki al_faisal, Saudia Arabia's point man on nuclear energy. Photo: Saudia Arabia Embassy, Washington, DC The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) plans to build 16 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years spending an estimated $7 billion on each plant. The $112 billion investment, which includes... [read more]

Troubles Realizing Iraq’s Oil Potential

July 28, 2011 by Amy Myers Jaffe
with 260 views

Does Iraq have what it takes to shake up the global energy market? Oil production capacity growth in Iraq and Saudi Arabia hold the key to future oil market stability, but the outlook for gains in the near to intermediate term looks cloudy, according to a new study by the Baker Institute. Political instability in a number of oil-... [read more]

Goldman Sachs: Saudi Arabia Will Fail To Meet Oil Demand By 2012

July 13, 2011 by Ee Mien Low
with 2,888 views

Over time, it is increasingly getting obvious that Saudi Arabia is going through the process of peak oil production and eventual decline. And as peak oil author Matt Simmons had said, "as Saudia Arabia goes, so goes the world". The first alarm bells started ringing as early as 2005 when it was first discovered that apparently the Saudi's could be having problems keeping up production of light sweet crude oil which is the more desired grade of oil. [read more]

What's The True Cost Of A Gallon Of Gas?

June 29, 2011 by A Siegel
with 854 views

How should we understand the cost of a gallon of gasoline? This is a very serious question with a myriad of layers and implications. The price of gasoline, at the pump, is the most prominent indicator of energy costs for a very large share of humanity. Whether driving a car or taking a bus or even walking on a street, the ‘arm and a... [read more]

Countries Battle OPEC With Release From Oil Reserves

June 25, 2011 by Robert Rapier
with 169 views

While Robert continues his trip to Europe and across the Continental U.S., a significant piece of news has been dominating the headlines. Although we’ve been closely monitoring the release of 60 million barrels of crude on our Energy Ticker page, we also wanted to generate some discussion on the topic, here, on the R-Squared Energy Blog... [read more]

Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release Catches Market Napping

June 24, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 387 views

I see that the administration has decided to release 30 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in coordination with a matched release from the strategic stocks of other OECD member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA.) The release will be spaced over the next month, though it's not clear how soon it... [read more]

Using Strategic Petroleum Reserves No Solution To Oil Addiction

June 24, 2011 by Deron Lovaas
with 151 views

As you've probably read or heard by now, the President and his staff have arranged through the International Energy Agency to release 60 million barrels of oil supply into the marketplace over the next month. While that sounds like a lot of oil -- and it is -- it's useful to keep in mind that the world consumes that much in... [read more]

Gasoline Could Cost Consumers an Extra $150 Billion in 2011

June 19, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 414 views

A poll reported in this morning's Wall St. Journal (subscription) indicated that more Americans are significantly affected by high gas prices than by rising food prices, falling home values, unemployment or foreclosures. That's a surprising result, considering that transportation fuel only accounts for about 5% of average household... [read more]

The Crux of Saudi Power

June 14, 2011 by Amy Myers Jaffe
with 296 views

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi told reporters that this week’s meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was “one of the worst meetings we have ever had.” But the meeting was not just a failure for OPEC, whose immediate power to influence the oil market seems to be on the wane. It is a huge failure for Saudi Arabia, one... [read more]

Do OPEC Meetings Matter?

June 10, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 137 views

Yesterday's meeting of OPEC in Vienna attracted extra attention because of disagreements between Saudi Arabia and Iran that extend well beyond the oil fields. The resulting impasse over increasing production to stem high oil prices and support a weakening global economy produced a much-quoted assessment from the Saudi Oil minister, Ali... [read more]

Do Oil Consumers And Oil Producers Really Share The Same Goal?

May 31, 2011 by Rod Adams
with 269 views

Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that his country shares a common desire with oil consumers. They would both like oil prices to be lower. Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal indicated that the Saudis would like oil to be trading in the range of $70 to $80 per barrel instead of its current market price of... [read more]

Honey, I Shrunk the Oil Industry

May 19, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 271 views

I finally finished watching the archived video from last week's Senate Finance Committee hearing with the heads of the five largest major oil companies in the US, including the two that are based in the EU. The few nuggets of real information and insight that were exchanged were nearly drowned out by political posturing, but my hat is... [read more]