Matt Smith

Latest articles from Matt

• The Least Compliant Country In The OPEC Deal

  Published 19 January 2018 | viewed 10,336 times

  Yesterday's monthly oil market report from OPEC showed that oil production from Kazakhstan likely increased by 180,000 bpd in 2017 to 1.74 million barrels per…

• Colombia’s Crude Exports Fall Amid Unrest

  Published 17 January 2018 | viewed 10,863 times

  Crude exports out of Colombia in recent years have averaged just over 600,000 barrels per day, with exports typically highest in January, before gradually descending…

• Two Changing Trends In Oil Shipping

  Published 15 January 2018 | viewed 13,205 times

  Taking a look at our proprietary ClipperData in recent days, there has been two trends that have jumped out: changing oil dynamics in the US,…

• The Most Remarkable Natural Gas Deal Of 2018

  Published 12 January 2018 | viewed 18,802 times

  The potential first delivery of Russian LNG to U.S. shores is ruffling some feathers, due to sanctions in place on Novatek, one of the partners in the…

• Another Oil Exporter Unpegs From The U.S. Dollar

  Published 11 January 2018 | viewed 29,654 times

  In an effort to shore up dwindling reserves, Angola has decided to unpeg its currency, the kwanza, from the U.S. dollar - a peg which…

• Soaring Indian Oil Demand Grabs OPEC’s Attention

  Published 09 January 2018 | viewed 16,774 times

  Last week, we discussed changing trends in Iraqi crude flows into Asia. Total deliveries of OPEC crude to China rose last year by 300,000 bpd, as cartel…

• Iraqi Oil Exports Grow On Strong Asian Demand

  Published 05 January 2018 | viewed 10,690 times

  It is both the best and worst of times for the current Iraqi oil market. Iraqi oil minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said this week that Iraqi…

• China’s Natural Gas Consumption Soars

  Published 20 December 2017 | viewed 25,137 times

  Chinese natural gas consumption surged through the first 11 months of 2017, up 19 percent year-on-year. China is the third largest consumer of natural gas in the…

• Huge WTI-Brent Spread Boosts U.S. Crude Exports

  Published 13 December 2017 | viewed 13,728 times

  CNBC published an article late last week based on our ClipperData, highlighting how deliveries of U.S. crude grades into China climbed to a record in…

• Oil Imports From Mexico Soar After Hurricane Season

  Published 08 December 2017 | viewed 9,283 times

  Mexican energy flows are reminiscent of Dr. Dolittle's mythical animal, the push-me-pull-you, as they are beckoned and ushered in contrasting directions. U.S. imports of Mexican…

• The Drastic Drop Off In U.S. Oil Imports

  Published 06 December 2017 | viewed 28,550 times

  While the dust may now have settled on last week's OPEC meeting, the cartel's impact on U.S. oil inventories is set to linger on. Stocks…

• Venezuela Is Losing Its Best Oil Buyer

  Published 01 December 2017 | viewed 40,111 times

  Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said this week that PdVSA is willing to retaliate against financial sanctions from the U.S. by suspending oil exports to the…

• Visualizing OPEC’s Success

  Published 30 November 2017 | viewed 13,271 times

  The mood in Vienna this week is considerably more chipper than it was in June. This is because the cartel appears - in the words…

• Iraq Struggles To Keep Oil Exports Elevated

  Published 17 November 2017 | viewed 13,966 times

  Since the Kurdish referendum in late September, when Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence from Iraq, there has been a drop in crude flows through…

• The U.S. Export Boom Goes Beyond Crude

  Published 09 November 2017 | viewed 14,233 times

  The U.S. export boom continues apace. And not only from crude exports, which clambered above 2 million barrels per day in recent weeks, but from…

• Can Iraq Dethrone Saudi Arabia In This Crucial Oil Market?

  Published 07 November 2017 | viewed 10,403 times

  We've been harping on in recent weeks about how Saudi has been slashing crude flows to North America, but as we can see in our ClipperData below,…

• The Radical Transformation Of U.S. Oil Imports

  Published 03 November 2017 | viewed 14,290 times

  Last week we discussed how flows from Saudi Arabia into the U.S. were about to be surpassed by Iraq for the first time since 1985 (teeing up…

• U.S. Crude Imports Soar Amid Rising Refinery Output

  Published 30 October 2017 | viewed 15,073 times

  I've been on the road - on walkabout as the Australians would say - for the last four weeks, doing a number of speaking engagements…

• Iraq Seizes Saudi Share In U.S. Oil Market

  Published 26 October 2017 | viewed 12,422 times

  Wowee, 1985 showed a rich vein of form for movies. It was the year that spawned The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, Spies Like Us, Fletch and…

• Footloose Iraq Cannibalizes Saudi Market Share

  Published 12 October 2017 | viewed 5,748 times

  Saudi Arabia continues to lead the charge in terms of the OPEC production cut deal - not only by keeping exports in check, but also…