Oil Dodges Bears, Nears $52 Again
U.S. crude inventories up 1.8 mln barrels at 488.8 mln; OPEC output at 2017 high of 33 mln bpd. Oil shook off a raft of bearish headlines on Wednesday, as investors and traders took advantage of earlier losses and pushed the price back towards $52 and this week's eight-week highs. Brent crude futures were up 14 cents at $51.92 a barrel by 1125 GMT, up from a session low of $51.18. The price hit $52.93 on Monday, its highest since late May. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude edged up 2 cents to $49.18 a barrel.
DW: Offshore Energy Sector Under Pressure
This week, DW looks at some of the key takeaways from an event held last Thursday in London, hosted by the Society of Underwater Technology. Douglas-Westwood (DW) presented its outlook for the offshore energy sector, including outputs from its latest, soon to be published studies, in the context of a highly-turbulent start to the year that saw oil prices on the day of $27/bbl. Research Director Steve Robertson opened the event with an introduction that examined the current outlook for offshore expenditure in comparison to that of a year ago…
Next Wave of FLNG Projects on the Horizon
There will be significant growth in both investment and activity in the FLNG market over the next seven years, with Douglas-Westwood (DW) forecasting total expenditure of $58.3 billion in its new market report. Sixty-one percent of this spend is attributed to liquefaction infrastructure, with the remainder from import and regasification facilities. Report author, Ben Wilby, commented, “The industry is about to see the installation of the first floating liquefaction projects.
Global Land Rig Market Sees More Modest Outlook
Given the current economic conditions, there is a more modest outlook for the land drilling rig market through to 2019, as detailed in Douglas-Westwood’s new World Land Drilling Rig Market Forecast 2015-2019. The report includes the very latest market outlook based on DW Drilling & Production data and reflects the current low oil price environment. The recent decline in oil price is expected to result in a 19% drop in onshore wells drilled in 2015, with several operators having announced planned reductions in expenditure.
