“La sabiduría de la vida consiste en la eliminación de lo no esencial. En reducir los problemas de la filosofía a unos pocos solamente: el goce del hogar, de la vida, de la naturaleza, de la cultura”.
Lin Yutang
Cervantes
Hoy es el día más hermoso de nuestra vida, querido Sancho; los obstáculos más grandes, nuestras propias indecisiones; nuestro enemigo más fuerte, el miedo al poderoso y a nosotros mismos; la cosa más fácil, equivocarnos; la más destructiva, la mentira y el egoísmo; la peor derrota, el desaliento; los defectos más peligrosos, la soberbia y el rencor; las sensaciones más gratas, la buena conciencia, el esfuerzo para ser mejores sin ser perfectos, y sobretodo, la disposición para hacer el bien y combatir la injusticia dondequiera que esté.
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES Don Quijote de la Mancha.
La Colmena no se hace responsable ni se solidariza con las opiniones o conceptos emitidos por los autores de los artículos.
19 de enero de 2015
Shale Is Losing to OPEC, to Judge by Mothballed Drilling Rigs
By Lynn DoanJan 16, 2015 7:32 PM GMT-0430
Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg
The Chevron Corp. Jack St. Malo semi-submersible drilling and production platform to... Read More
U.S. drillers have taken a record number of oil rigs out of service
in the past six weeks as OPEC sustains its production, sending prices
below $50 a barrel.
The oil rig count has fallen by 209 since Dec. 5, the steepest six-week decline since Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) began tracking the data in July 1987. The count was down 55 this week to 1,366. Horizontal rigs
used in U.S. shale formations that account for virtually all of the
nation’s oil production growth fell by 48, the biggest single-week drop.
Analysts including HSBC Holdings Plc say the decline shows that
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is winning its fight
for market share and slowing the growth that’s propelled U.S. production
to the highest in at least three decades. OPEC’s decision not to curb
its output amid increasing supplies from the U.S. and other countries
has driven global oil prices down 58 percent since June.
“OPEC’s
strategy is working, and it will be obvious in U.S. production by
midyear when growth from shale plays will come to a halt,” James
Williams, president of energy consulting company WTRG Economics in
London, Arkansas, said by telephone Friday. “You can imagine the impact on any industry from a 50 percent impact on sales.”
Photographer: Brittany Sowacke/Bloomberg
U.S. drillers have taken a record number of oil rigs out of service in the past six... Read More
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose $2.44 on Friday to settle at $48.69 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange, up 33 cents for the week, the first gain since
November. Brent, the international benchmark, rose $1.90 to end the day
at $50.17 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange, a weekly gain
of 6 cents for the front-month contract.
Shut-Ins
“Prices are being forced toward levels that would force outright shut-ins in high-cost areas, mainly in Canada and the U.S.,” Societe Generale SA (GLE) analysts including Mark Keenan, its head of commodities research for Asia in Singapore, said in a research note Jan. 14.
The
slump in oil rigs has yet to stop the unprecedented growth in U.S. oil
production, which added 60,000 barrels a day in the week ended Jan. 9 to
9.19 million, Energy Information Administration data show. That’s the
most in weekly data since at least 1983.
Meanwhile, projects are being canceled and budgets cut around the globe. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) called off a $6.5 billion project in Qatar. Contract drillers Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) and Pioneer Energy Services Corp. (PES) lost U.S. rig contracts. Mexican oil service companies cut more than 10,000 people. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) fired workers in Canada.
Permian Basin
The
Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the largest U.S. oil field, lost
the most rigs this week, declining by 15 to 487, Baker Hughes data
show. Rigs in Texas’s Eagle Ford formation dropped 12 to 185, and the
Williston Basin, home of North Dakota’s prolific Bakken formation,
declined by six to 165.
“We are seeing leading indicators of
weak prices starting to drive the rebalancing that OPEC is seeking to
achieve,” HSBC analysts including Gordon Gray said in a research note
Jan. 15.
Rigs drilling for natural gas
in the U.S. dropped by 19 to 310. Inventories of the heating fuel in
the lower 48 states totaled 2.853 trillion cubic feet last week, 11
percent above year-earlier levels.
Natural gas for February
delivery dropped 3.1 cents to settle at $3.127 per million British
thermal units on the Nymex Friday, down 29 percent in the past year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net Richard Stubbe, Bill Banker
