Mid-Week Review

Pipeline operator EPIC to begin U.S. crude export operations by year-end: executive

EPIC Midstream Holdings LP has begun filling a new 400,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil pipeline that stretches from the Permian Basin to the U.S. Gulf Coast and will start exporting from its own South Texas terminal by the end of this year, President Brian Freed said in an interview on Monday.  The San Antonio pipeline operator has also begun construction on a second dock at its export terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas, that next year will be capable of loading tankers that carry up to 1 million barrels, known as Suezmax tankers, Freed said.  In the third quarter, EPIC will make the first deliveries into Corpus Christi on the new pipeline, one of three new pipelines helping to ease a crude oil bottleneck that has weighed on prices in the Permian of West Texas and New Mexico for more than a year.  Click here to read more from Reuters.

World’s Largest Recent Offshore Oil Discovery Progresses Amid Political Tensions, Disputes

Nothing is ever easy or simple in the world of international offshore oil and gas development. That axiom is proving to be true for the most prolific offshore oil discovery in recent years off the coast of the tiny South American nation of Guyana.  The production potential here is staggering. ExxonMobil and its partners expect production can surge from zero to more than 750,000 barrels per day over the next 5 years.  Click here to read more from Forbes.

Will We Really See An Oil Glut In 2020?

There has been much talk lately about a potential oil glut in 2020, most notably by the IEA in their latest monthly oil report, but such predictions are predicated on two faulty assumptions, first being global oil demand estimates are accurate, and the second, strong US shale supply growth will continue unabated regardless of prevailing oil prices.  A quick analysis of the IEA latest 2020 demand-supply balance indicate a potential 900,000 barrels daily surplus, if true, such a surplus is bound to weigh heavily on prices. Diving deeper into the numbers we notice that IEA expects global oil demand to average 101.7M barrels next year against a potential 102.6M barrels in global supply (should OPEC maintain its current 30M barrels in production). Click here to read more from OilPrice.com.

Oil bulls look to Fed rate cut to overcome demand worries

When it comes to the oil prices, market bulls are hoping Jerome Powell and his band of Federal Reserve policy makers can do what falling U.S. crude inventories and rising geopolitical tensions haven’t managed by giving crude a lasting kick higher.  ”We’ve had a number of bullish inputs but the market just hasn’t been able to advance much off of that and I think soft demand is the primary reason,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, in an interview.  Indeed, despite six straight weeks of falling U.S. crude inventories and the rising danger of military conflict between the U.S. and Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most sensitive oil choke point, West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, is off 2.1% in July, while Brent crude, the global benchmark, is down around 1%.  Click here to read more from MarketWatch.