Peak Oil Review – May 18

1. Production and Prices

2. Nigeria

3. IEA lowers demand

4. A changing LNG story

5. Briefs

1. Production and Prices

After rising by $10 a barrel since mid-April, oil prices continued to increase early last week, and at one point touched a six-month high of $60. Just as the equity markets remain largely detached from economic news and focus on hopes for recovery, the oil markets remain largely detached from the news of supply and demand. When the equity markets turned softer on Thursday, oil followed them down to close out the week at $56.34.

2. Nigeria

A few years ago when the oil supply situation was much tighter, every militant attack on an oil facility in the Niger Delta triggered an immediate jump in oil prices. However, ever since world oil supplies began outrunning demand last fall and OPEC began massive production cuts, nobody outside of the Nigerians and their contractors really cared if the country produced any oil or not. As more production shifted to relatively secure off-shore locations, Nigerian production settled somewhere below 2 million b/d. From time to time a pipeline or pumping station would be sabotaged, but these were usually repaired in short order.

3. IEA lowers demand

As a leading compiler of information relating to oil, the release of the IEA