How Much Clout Does Harold Hamm Have? You Might Be Surprised ...

Copied directly from Platts via Twitter:

No doubt about the most #oil-soaked first round game in the #NCAATournament announced so far: Oklahoma vs N. Dakota State.

Just saying.....

........ by the way, the state of North Dakota has more times in the NCAA basketball tournament ("March madness") than the state of Indiana. Again, just saying .....

********************************

Yesterday, I mentioned that oil demand was increasing -- at least that was my perception -- based on the reading or misreading of the tea leaves.  Now, from Platts we read:

The IEA revised upward its estimate of world oil demand in 2014 once again amid an improving economic picture.

The latest upward revision of 80,000 b/d leaves the full-year demand estimate at 92.68 million b/d, an increase of 1.35 million b/d on 2013.

This was the seventh consecutive upgrade to the IEA’s demand forecast, and brings the total upward revision to 700,000 b/d. Right now demand growth is relatively muted, but the IEA said it was expected to gather pace later in the year.

It is worth bearing in mind, though, that demand is still being outpaced by non-OPEC supply, which is expected to rise by 1.7 million b/d this year because of what the IEA called the “relentless growth in US and Canadian supplies,” with smaller increases also expected in Russia, China and Brazil. [The delta between 1.7 million bopd and 1.35 bopd is about 0.35 million bopd, or 350,000 bopd.]

This effectively reduces the call on OPEC crude — the amount of crude the oil cartel would have to pump in order to balance supply and demand — to an average of 29.7 million b/d in 2014.

This is well below current production, even without accounting for further increases from Iraq, a possible recovery in Libyan production or the potential lifting of sanctions against Iran.

If any of those events come to pass, there would be even more oil available to ease any market pressures.