Exploration

At turning points most market observers and participants are of the same mind. That doesn't mean the bear market in natural gas can't continue, perhaps for quite a while yet. But the idea that gas will remain cheap and plentiful for decades because of technological breakthroughs sounds too good to be true, and it probably is.

Oil prices rose this week breaking the $75/barrel mark for the first time this year. The gains were mainly fuelled by rising equity prices and a falling dollar...

A weekly round-up including:
- Production and prices
- Replace the dollar
- The Peak Oil Market

The this week was largely on a downward trajectory despite tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, until Wednesday, when the US posted lower than anticipated stockpile figures...

Recently, we have had two new articles aiming to put to rest people's fears about peak oil. One is from the New York Times: Oil Industry Sets a Brisk Pace of New Discoveries It talks about the many discoveries this year, and how, if they continue at the pace they have in the first half, they will be the best since 2000. The other is from the October Scientific American, called Squeezing More Oil from the Ground...Its premise seems to be that there are a lot of promising areas that we have not yet explored. When you put this together with advances in drilling and the promises of secondary and tertiary recovery, there is a good chance that oil production will not peak for many years.

This week brought warnings on future oil prices and supply from both Andrew Sentance, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and Christophe de Margerie, CEO of Total...

In late August the Vancouver Sun ran an article on the bullish prospects for Canadian shale gas. The piece began this way: “What energy crisis? Despite what you may be hearing about a global peak in oil production, waning reserves, and $100-plus oil prices, North America is suddenly awash in fossil fuel.”...

-Supply constraints to push oil up to $105 a barrel by 2012
-Peak oil expected in 2009: Macquarie
-Oil strikes not enough to quench demand

This week saw further oil discoveries in the Santos Basin and off the coast of Ghana, extending a run of sizeable finds in recent weeks. Following much breathless reporting of such discoveries, it was good to them put into context by solid analysis from Morgan Stanley and Bank Macquarie...

A weekly round-up including:
- Prices and production
- Elsewhere

-Oil giants zero in on untapped Greenland
-Norway cuts arctic barrel count
-IEA Raises 2009, 2010 Oil Demand Forecasts on Growth (Update2)

Steven Kopits, who runs the New York office of Douglas Westwood, was in Denver last week. He talked about his latest paper on peak oil and the economy with Steve Andrews and will share related remarks at the ASPO-USA conference next month. Steve popped a few questions:...

Another week, another ‘giant’ oil find, leading to predictable claims that ‘peak oil theory’ is toast. Shame nobody bothered to put the numbers in context, but then that’s what ODAC is for...

A weekly update from a UK perspective.

-BP hails 'giant' oil find
-Giant Indian oil field comes on stream
-Canada's Oil Sands - Part 2