With WTI prices briefly spiking below $44 per barrel, May was an exciting month for oil prices. Even though prices dipped further than I expected, I remain optimistic and expect oil prices to generally be bound between $50 and $60 per barrel for the next few months.
One of the benchmarks that I am tracking is the US Energy Information Adminstration’s Short Term Energy Outlook data for US crude oil and liquid fuels production as shown in the graph. Every month the EIA releases a new forecast. The January forecast is the lowest line along the horizontal axis, and the May forecast is the top line. Solid-line portions represent historical data, and the dotted-line portions are forecasts. Because of data revisions, not all months start from the same point. Please note that liquid fuels include ethanol, natural gas plant liquids, and biodiesel.
EIA Short Term Energy Outlook Forecasts
To date, the largest jumps in December 2018 production volumes were from the February and March forecasts. The May forecast for December 2018 production volumes of about 15.8 million barrels per day is just over a million barrels per day greater than estimated in the January forecast. Clearly, the large increase in US production surprised many analysts and, very likely, OPEC, too.
Moving away from the graph, I came across an interesting comment from Pioneer Natural Resources chairman Scott Sheffield in a Forbes article “Up On Trump, Down On Oil, Hamm Warns Frackers Not To Spook OPEC.”
Others at CERAWeek have been more bold. Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental Petroleum, the Permian’s biggest producer, predicted Tuesday that output from the basin could grow from 2 million barrels per day now, to 5 million bpd. Scott Sheffield, chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources, another Permian giant, said 8 million to 10 million bpd in a decade. What’s different is that Oxy and Pioneer have a vast inventory of Permian acreage that the companies say offers good cash-on-cash returns even at $40 oil.
I haven’t seen other forecasts as aggressive. That said, Sheffield’s forecast deserves careful consideration and monitoring.
Switching to the key OPEC development, I was surprised by OPEC’s decision to extend its oil production cuts for an added nine months because I had expected only a six-month extension. As we saw on May 26 by the drop in oil prices from roughly $52 to $49 per barrel, many were disappointed that OPEC didn’t cut deeper. I agree, however, with Helima Croft’s comments in the Wall Street Journal article “Oil Prices Edge Higher Following OPEC Decision” (subscription might be required).
While the market had a “knee jerk reaction” because it “remains skeptical” on the impact of OPEC’s cuts, “we encourage investors to separate the near-term, noise-driven price gyrations and focus on the improving global fundamental backdrop,” said Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, LLC, who said she believes oil will eventually move between $50 and $60 a barrel.
So now we wait to see how this situation plays out. The summer driving season has begun and refineries are running at high throughputs. Will global oil inventories have shrunk by very much at the end of the summer in September?