• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 4 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 6 days If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 10 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 10 days Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs

Breaking News:

Oil Prices Gain 2% on Tightening Supply

EU and Turkmenistan Eye New Energy Partnerships

EU and Turkmenistan Eye New Energy Partnerships

Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister announces an…

Bullish Sentiment Brings $90 Oil Within Reach

Bullish Sentiment Brings $90 Oil Within Reach

Oil prices may soon climb…

Rystad Energy

Rystad Energy

Rystad Energy is an independent energy consulting services and business intelligence provider offering global databases, strategic advisory and research products for energy companies and suppliers,…

More Info

Premium Content

The First Casualty Of Tanking Oil Prices

Oil field

In the wake of one of history’s largest oil price declines in a single day, a Rystad Energy impact analysis shows that US drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) will be the first assets to be threatened by the newly formed low price environment, as their breakeven costs are now only dollars away from market prices.

Around 80% of shale DUCs currently have break-even oil prices below $25 West Texas Intermediate ($30 Brent), Rystad Energy’s data show.

“If nobody blinks in this supply war, prices may have to go this low in order to properly reduce production and get supply-demand back in balance,” says Artem Abramov, Rystad Energy’s Head of Shale Research.

“This could turn out to be one of the greatest shocks ever faced by the oil industry, as coronavirus containment measures will add to the headache of producers fighting for market share. And OPEC has clearly stated that it won’t be coming to the rescue in the second quarter of 2020,” adds Abramov.

The only hope on the immediate horizon is for OPEC countries and Russia to capitulate and tighten the supply valves at their next meeting in June.

Russia’s hard “no” to further production cuts last Friday did not come as a big surprise, Abramov said, but the size of Saudi Arabia’s discounts to all export markets over the weekend certainly did.

Related: Why 2030 Isn’t The Magic Year For Electric Vehicles

As the market searches for a floor, Rystad Energy believes prices will experience extreme levels of volatility in the coming days and will have to go even lower than the current $35 Brent, as the potential 2 million barrels per day (bpd) surplus in the market in the second quarter of 2020 may grow even larger depending on the production response from OPEC and Russia.

However, we suspect that the OPEC+ alliance could still survive this impasse. Russia has successfully made the point that it is prepared to face the consequences of a “no-deal” scenario. As the effect of the virus outbreak on the global economy becomes increasingly clear, we find it likely that OPEC+ will meet again in June and try to reach a new agreement to balance the market.

Rystad Energy’s shale team has modeled three alternative price scenarios reflecting how the US shale industry could respond to lower WTI prices. In this analysis, under the $30 WTI scenario, which is the one closest to the current price levels, oil production in the Lower 48 states would continue to grow towards July-August by around 200,000 to 300,000 bpd versus current output levels.

Production would then start to decline during the year’s fourth quarter. The volumes at risk versus our previous base case grow by as much as 1 million bpd for December 2020 production if oil prices stay at $30 WTI a barrel. In this scenario, Lower 48 oil production would end the year more or less flat from where it started.

It remains to be seen whether OPEC+ will return to the negotiating table before the next scheduled meeting in June, but until that happens, the market will evidently be left on its own to clear out an unprecedented supply-demand surplus that could surpass 3 million bpd in the second quarter of 2020. Buckle your seatbelts as the market moves into unchartered territory.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Rystad Energy

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • David Chura on March 10 2020 said:
    Seems these companies are scared they will loose and go bankrupt
    This does not have to be

    All that any wise person would do to save themselves from drowning is to learn to swim.

    These upper parasites have no brains, all they want is profit and more profit
    They are actually stupid and blind

    All one needs to do is drop their costs including wages and cost of materials, accordingly

    Have they no brains to ask their workers to accept a wage reduction until the prices come back up
    Then it should follow suit that those who are related all the way down the line should also ask those who are affected to also reduce their costs. and that should include the brain dead bankers who hold their mortgages etc
    Everyone should learn to cut the debts of others and then keep working, if they don't then remove their business from them,

    Are you so brain dead you are to proud to comprehend the outcome?
  • whatabout theceo on March 10 2020 said:
    I'd expect any wage reduction would start at the top, there's not much more to squeeze out from the bottom.

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News