Tag Archives: Daniel J. Graeber

The Business of US Oil

There are varying opinions about the next step for the oil business in America. David Bird explained his position in the Wall Street Journal:

“The U.S. is on track to reach records for crude-oil production by 2016, as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques continue to unlock oil in shale rock. The renaissance in the oil sector feeds into the debate of whether the U.S. should allow crude oil to be exported freely. The U.S. has kept a lid on oil exports since 1973, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries stopped selling crude to the U.S. in retaliation for its support of Israel in a war with Egypt and Syria.”

Head of Citigroup’s Commodity Research, Ed Morse said that the increasing American production will have a large impact on oil prices. In the next few years the international benchmark price is likely to be around $15 a barrel less than its current price or even lower “if the shale revolution continues around the world,” which is anticipated.  Due to this abundance, oil producers are asking that restrictions on exports be lifted.  Ernest Moniz, Energy Secretary said that now might be the time for the government to review its oil exports policy, given that it shipped around 56,000 barrels of oil per day in October, approximately 1 percent less than the 7.7m barrels a day energy companies in America produced

Daniel J. Graeber in an article in Oil Price wrote:

“U.S. oil production last month reached its highest monthly total in 25 years. South of the border, the story is different, though Mexico’s decision to end a state oil monopoly in place for 75 years may consolidate the America’s supremacy over the international energy market.”

Alexander Kwiatkowski expressed his pessimism over the business of US oil in Bloomberg:

“Surging U.S. crude output is making Latin American oil cheaper than supplies from the Middle East, spurring Asian refiners to accelerate their purchases from Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia. Mexico will end 75 years of government control of its vast oil reserves after Congress approved the nation’s most significant economic reform since the North American Free Trade Agreement.”