Mid-Week Review

OPEC cancels April meeting, leaving price-boosting oil output cuts in place through June

OPEC and other major oil producers on Monday canceled a meeting planned for April, leaving the alliance’s price-boosting production cuts in place until at least June. The group is delaying its decision because it expects the oil market to remain oversupplied through the first half of the year, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said at a committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan. The delay also allows the producers to assess how U.S. sanctions on OPEC-members Iran and Venezuela will affect the oil market in the coming months, several news agencies reported.  Click here to read more from CNBC.

The Oil and Gas Situation: A Transition In Fundamentals For 2019

Will oil inventories hit a record deficit later this year? – That’s what the partners at the Goehring and Rozencwajg investment firm think. In their March 15 analysis, they estimate that stronger-than-projected global demand for crude, combined with the full implementation of promised export cuts by the OPEC-plus countries will result in a significant drop in global crude inventories over the course of this year. The report correctly notes the habit of the International Energy Agency (IEA) of underestimating global crude demand growth in its initial annual projections. The IEA has had to revise its initial estimates upwards in seven of the last eight years by an average of about half a million barrels of oil per day (bopd) . The firm assumes this trend will continue for 2019, and that IEA’s estimate of demand growth for 2019 is understated by 500,000 bopd.  Click here to read more from Forbes.

Oil Demand Growth Is Showing No Signs of Nearing a Peak

Worldwide oil demand has been steadily climbing for years, and it recently topped 100 million barrels per day (BPD) for the first time in history, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). That should continue, with the IEA expecting oil demand to march higher for at least the next five years. That’s good news for oil producers, which can continue expanding their output so that the industry can keep up with demand growth.  Click here to read more from the Motley Fool.

Trade Tensions Are Keeping A Lid On Oil Prices

Ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions continue to chip away at Chinese economic growth. China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday that the country’s economy slowed in the first two months of the year as the rate of industrial production fell to its lowest in a decade. On Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a summit to seal a trade deal between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would not happen at the end of March as previously discussed because more work is needed in U.S.-China negotiations.  Click here to read more from OilPrice.com.