Saudi Arabia Agrees To Disagree About Production Freeze. The parties attending the oil conference in Doha on Sunday failed to reach a consensus on freezing their production at their January levels. Allen Brooks advises that we don’t let the cloud of media reports obscure the global oil market trends that are already underway. [Oilpro]
Anything, Even The Ramshackle US Rig Count, Can Always Fall 100%. Oilpro explores the impact of the Doha failure on U.S. onshore drilling. “In the weeks ahead, non-OPEC operator resolve will be tested. With no producer accord, oil prices could fall to levels that jeopardize the ramshackle US onshore drilling that remains.” [Oilpro]
Did OPEC Die In Qatar? Vagif Sharifov thinks so. The Doha negotiations failed- “not due to a lack of consensus between OPEC and non-OPEC countries…but due to the fact that there was no agreement within the cartel.” [Oilpro]
“Jawboning” Exposed. Zerohedge writes, “Following yesterday’s meeting in Doha which ended in total failure…oil crashed and with it so did the strategy of jawboning for the past 2 months had been exposed for what it was: a desperate attempt to keep oil prices stable and “crush shorts” while global demand slowly picked up.” [Zerohedge, Oilpro]
WTI Down +4% Early Monday. Oil prices tumbled 5% after the meeting. Brent crude futures were trading at $40.86 per barrel early on Monday, down 5.2% since their last settlement. US crude futures were down 5.7% at $38.06 a barrel. [Upstream Online, Oilpro]
Iran’s Pre-Meeting “NO” Was A Key Bellwether. “Considering Iran’s plan to revive its share of the global crude oil market after full annulment of unfair sanctions and the fact that this issue has been discussed in bilateral and multilateral meetings with oil and energy ministers of OPEC and non-OPEC producers…the Iranian oil minister will not take part in this meeting,” a key official said Friday. [Oilpro]
…And While All This Is Going On, Another Former OPEC Member Wants Back In. After a two decade hiatus, Gabon wants to rejoin OPEC, according to two OPEC sources who spoke to Reuters. The African nation is the second former member in a year to seek a return to the 13-member group. Indonesia officially rejoined OPEC in December. [Oilpro]
Brazilian Congress Votes To Impeach Dilma Rousseff. In a rowdy voting session that started on Friday and went on through Sunday evening, the majority of the 513 deputies in the Brazilian lower house of Congress voted to impeach embattled President Dilma Rousseff. [Oilpro]
Kuwaiti Oil Strike Cuts Output In Half. Kuwaiti oil workers began striking on Sunday after rejecting an offer from the state oil company to suspend the implementation of public sector pay reforms. Oil output fell by more than half on Sunday as a result. [projects.zawya.com, Oilpro, MarketWatch]
U.S. Natural Gas Production Hit Record High In 2015, EIA Says. In its daily energy briefing on Friday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. natural gas production reached a record high level of 79 Bcf/d last year, representing an increase of 5% from 2014. [Oilpro]