by FreddyH » Tue 13 May 2008, 18:35:56
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'F')reddy,
I'm sure you have commented on this elsewhere, but this is a pretty good place to rehash it.
Assuming your projected production curve is accurate, I would think that there will still be terrific price pressure as demand continues to prevent any spare capacity from showing up at any point in the next few years.
In other words, I think that if the world's appetite in five years would be for 105 million barrels a day, even if we are at 96 million barrels a day, there is no reason to believe that prices are going anywhere but up from here.
What do you think?
As mentioned yesterday on the shale thread, this chart "is not accurate"! In light of a higher apparent Underlying Decline Rate (3.3%) and a lower estimate of URR for Conventional Oil, the May version of this chart will show a reduced 91-mbd Peak. This will only exacerbate your concerns over spare capacity.
WRT to price, i see less correlation to spare capacity in the last five years. Price spikes are spec activity driven by about six bucks. But the general trend is more vulnerable to monthly surplus/draw balance.
The four major price corrections in 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006 all coincided with monthly surpluses between 1 to 1.5-mbd. There was no correction in 2007 'cuz the highest surplus was a paltry 0.3-mbd. We were mainly in "draw" mode.
In short, surplus capacity is of no use unless it is drawn upon to bring equilibrium to the marketplace. To see one of these 30% price drops, we need a serious bump in production or some decent demand destruction. I foresee neither.
As seen in my Barrel Meter analysis, Price seems to have detatched itself from fundamentals. There appears to a $50/barrel bubble but it is not driven by speculation activity. It is merely "speculation" of perceived weather, geopolitical and depletion issues. And like any bubble, it can burst w/o intervention or notice. The producers are the beneficiary of this windfall.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')lso, where does declining EROEI come into play? If 87 mbd currently provides us with, say, 70 mbd of net energy, how much more net energy will 97 mbd provide in 2015?
This is where i throw a bouquet to the EIA. They have decided to break with IEA and commence methodology that reduces energy inputs from the gross processing figures for BTL, heavy, x-heavy & bitumen. This is the reason for the 1.4-mbd (and growing) spread in supply stats (as seen in the above blue chart) between the Agencies.
Some would say that this should be taken to the next level and adjust for BTU content.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')t also occurs to me that a gradual increase in production ought to give us some gradual economic growth for the next few years. What do you think about that?
It's hard for me to imagine an economic collapse in an environment where you still have gradually increasing production, so long as there is actually an increase on a net energy basis as well.