Psychological fears of an oil glut are have caused oil prices to drop from $55-$48. But there is some fundamental economic factors that suggest this price drop will be short lived. So far in 2017, U.S. crude oil inventories have increased 49.38 million barrels to 528.39 million barrels as the following chart displays: While the recent builds appear negative, over the past five years U.S. crude inventories have increased 26.23 million barrels, on average, during the same nine week [Read more]
Canada’s oil patch ought pay attention to this court case’s decision
Here is an energy issue I thought would have been resolved years ago--but it's going to court this week in Alberta. The central question is simple--what takes priority if a producer goes bankrupt--environmental liabilities to plug & abandon (P&A) wells, or creditors. What's happening is that the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is asking receiver Grant Thornton to set aside enough money in the receivership of bankrupt Redwater Energy Corp. to pay for the abandonment costs of any wells [Read more]