Tag: EIA

Oil prices decreased on Thursday 3 of May, as a rise in US crude inventories and a record weekly US production was reported, This increase is opposing to the efforts made by OPEC to decrease supplies and tighten the market. The prices were reduced after a report by EIA, which showed that US crude inventories increase by 6.2 million barrels to 435.96 million barrels.

US crude oil exports averaged 1.1 million barrels per day in 2017, an increase of 527,000 b/d from 2016. Despite this acceleration in export growth, the US.Gulf Coast ports cannot fully load Very Large Crude Carriers. Instead, export growth was achieved by using smaller and less cost-effective ships. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port is the only U.S. facility capable of accommodating a fully loaded VLCC.

Annual average US crude oil production reached 9.3 million barrels per day in 2017. EIA projects that U.S. crude oil production will continue to grow in 2018 and 2019, averaging 10.7 million b/d and 11.3 million b/d, respectively. U.S. crude oil production has increased significantly over the past 10 years, mainly because of production from tight rock formations using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. 

Total net energy imports to the US fell to 7.3 quadrillion British thermal units in 2017, a 35% decrease from 2016 and the lowest level since 1982, when both gross imports and gross exports were much lower, according to EIA. The larger factor leading to the reduction in the net energy trade balance has been increasing energy exports.

US exports of LNG reached 1.94 billion cubic feet per day in 2017, up from 0.5 Bcf/d in 2016. As LNG exports increased, shipments went to more destinations. US LNG exports in 2017 were all from Louisiana’s Sabine Pass terminal and they were mainly shipped to Mexico; South Korea; and China.

US crude oil exports grew to an average of 1.1 million barrels per day in 2017, the second full year since restrictions on crude oil exports were removed. Crude oil exports in 2017 almost doubled in 2016, supported by increasing domestic crude oil production and expanded infrastructure, according to EIA.

EIA informed that expects a 40% increase in natural gas consumed in the US industrial sector, from 9.8 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2017 to 13.7 quadrillion Btu in 2050. By 2020, industrial natural gas consumption will surpass the previous record set in the early 1970s.

The US Energy Information Administration released its Weekly Petroleum Status, according to which US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 1.6 million barrels from the previous week, and are now lower than the average range for this time of year.

In 2017, natural gas spot prices at the national benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana averaged $3.01 per million British thermal units, about 50 cents per MMBtu higher than in 2016. The higher prices in 2017 contributed to less consumption and increased domestic production was offset by increased exports of natural gas by pipeline and LNG cargoes, according to EIA.

About 70% of Russia’s crude oil exports in 2016 went to European countries, particularly the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and Belarus, according to data provided by US EIA. Russia was also the largest supplier of crude oil to China in 2016, surpassing Saudi Arabia for the first time on an annual basis.