oil production

Industrial Production Increased 0.4% for September 2012

The Federal Reserve's Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization report, G.17, shows a increase of 0.4% in industrial production for September 2012. This report is also known as output for factories and mines. Manufacturing increased 0.2%, mining 0.9% and utilities increased 1.5%. Oil and gas Gulf of Mexico rigs resuming are mentioned in the 0.9% output of mines increase.

Oil Prices Spiking on Middle East Protests and Overthrows

Oil Futures are spiking due to Libya and the Middle East's March to Freedom. While food inflation is cited as an Egyptian revolutionary spark, for the United States it might just be oil.

Oil jumped to the highest in more than two years as violence intensified in Libya, stoking concern crude supplies will be disrupted as violence escalates around the Middle East and North Africa.

New York futures for April delivery rose as much as 9.8 percent from the close on Feb. 18, while London-traded Brent surged to the highest since September 2008, as soldiers deserted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s government and diplomats resigned. The country, holder of the largest crude reserves on the African continent, pumped 1.6 million barrels a day of oil in January, equivalent of about 8 percent of U.S. consumption.

“Oil is being bought on the risk that this contagion will spread through the Middle East,” Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services Pty in Sydney, said by telephone today. “This effect is a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that this could spread.”

Crude for April delivery rose as high as $98.48 and was at $96.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:37 a.m. Singapore time. It settled at $89.71 on Feb. 18. Floor trading was closed yesterday for the Presidents Day holiday and electronic trades will be booked today for settlement purposes.

Oil Demand to Exceed Supply by 2014?

A U.K. former scientist is saying Oil reserves are exaggerated by 1/3:

The scientist and researchers from Oxford University argue that official figures are inflated because member countries of the oil cartel, OPEC, over-reported reserves in the 1980s when competing for global market share.

Their new research argues that estimates of conventional reserves should be downgraded from 1,150bn to 1,350bn barrels to between 850bn and 900bn barrels and claims that demand may outstrip supply as early as 2014. The researchers claim it is an open secret that OPEC is likely to have inflated its reserves, but that the International Energy Agency (IEA), BP, the Energy Information Administration and World Oil do not take this into account in their statistics.

Worldwide oil production declining faster than expected

I know that the concept of Peak Oil is controversial, but this is significant.

Output from the world’s oilfields is declining faster than previously thought, the first authoritative public study of the biggest fields shows.

Without extra investment to raise production, the natural annual rate of output decline is 9.1 per cent, the International Energy Agency says in its annual report, the World Energy Outlook, a draft of which has been obtained by the Financial Times.

The findings suggest the world will struggle to produce enough oil to make up for steep declines in existing fields, such as those in the North Sea, Russia and Alaska, and meet long-term de­mand. The effort will become even more acute as prices fall and investment decisions are delayed.