Weekend Summary

Have an article worth sharing? Send it to FUELSNews@mansfieldoil.com, and we’ll share it next week in our Weekly Summary segment.

Keystone Pipeline is Doable Even with New Route

According to TransCanada’s CEO, the Keystone XL Pipeline is feasible, though it could cost an additional $80 million. Nebraska regulators approved Keystone XL a little while back, but required the pipe take a slightly different route. TransCanada now believes the new route is doable, putting them one step closer to building the pipeline. Keystone XL would help reduce the supply glut in Canada and make crude more available in the U.S. and for exports.

Are We There Yet, OPEC?

OPEC has publicly announced their goal is to reduce inventories to five-year averages. That’s a good goal in theory, but what does it mean? Is it based on a fixed five-year period? If it’s a rolling basis, then the target has already moved 150 million barrels higher since 2016. Which inventories should be monitored? OECD and American inventories are the most visible, but fail to capture rising oil demand and storage needs in non-OECD countries. Until these and other questions are answered, OPEC’s cuts are much vaguer than they might appear.

Every One of the World’s Big Economies Is Now Growing

Not directly about oil prices or trends, but a useful article to follow all the same. Strong economic growth will spur higher oil demand worldwide, keeping prices supported in 2018.

Iran’s Vulnerable Energy Supply

A major trend we’ve noted in 2018 will be increased volatility resulting from balanced markets – without excess inventories, any disruption will have a big impact on prices. For that reason, it’s worth considering a few of the risks facing Iran’s oil supply, including sanctions, technical outages, and terrorist attacks.