Saudi Arabia: this past week, this was a top story: Saudi Arabia crude oil exports drop to lowest on record. Repeat: exports drop to lowest on record. On record. I find it amazing the stories that get so little press. Now this, from oilprice: the world's top oil importer -- CHINA -- is turning away from Saudi Arabia and turning to less expensive oil from Brazil and the United States.
In recent months, the world’s biggest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has lost market share in China to the United States as the world’s top oil importer has boosted imports from America and reduced purchases from the Kingdom.
China has imported record volumes of crude oil in recent months, taking advantage of the lowest crude prices in two decades in April stock up on dirt-cheap oil.
In their bargain-hunting for low-priced oil, Chinese state oil giants and independent refiners alike snapped up cheap U.S. cargoes in April, which were loaded in May, started to arrive in China in June, and set records in July.
At the same time, Chinese oil imports from Saudi Arabia – after hitting all-time highs in May and June thanks to the bargain prices the Saudis offered in the brief price war for market share in March and April – slipped in July as availability of crude from the Middle East shrank after May with the OPEC+ cuts.
Chinese refiners were opportunistic buyers of crude in March and April, and given the shorter tanker travel time between the Middle East and China, compared to the U.S.-China route, Chinese imports of crude oil from Saudi Arabia slumped as early as in July from the record highs of the previous two months. Meanwhile, the roughly 45-day route from the U.S. to China means that the cheap American crude oil loaded in May started arriving in China en masse in July.
Much more at the link.
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For The Archives:
Saudi Aramco Announces Two New Oil And Gas Fields
- Abraq al-Toloul oil field: southeast of the northern city of Arar;
- Hadabat al Hajara gas field in the al-Job region:
Just what they need: more oil. LOL.
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Texas High School Football Players of the Year
On cable sports network now. Amazing to watch. What a great state. What a great country. 4A Texas football athlete of the year: Ashton Stredick. The senior is headed to Princeton University. From Needville, TX, within the Houston-Sugar Land metropolitan area. I'll miss the 5A highlights; headed over to Sophia's house for dinner.
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An Incredible Personal Story -- This Is What Life Is All About
Complete surprise.
Saudi and other export countries could face social unrest soon. I do not see a breakout of oil price above $60 for years. If Venezuela, Iran, Libya get their act together, a lot of offline production could come back.
ReplyDeleteCanada oil sands and USA shale would come back.
Natural gas is helping to depress oil prices at present price of about $3/thousand cubic feet. 1000 CUFT. Heat content of 1000 CUFT of NG = 7 gallons of fuel oil or 8 gallons of gasoline
Saudi Arabia is in deep trouble.
DeleteI remember back in 2008 when gasoline was north of $4/gallon. Saudi Ariba stated that they thought that $120/bbl was a fair price for crude oil.
ReplyDeleteJim Crammer quote " Bulls make money, Bears make money, Pigs get slaughtered."
That is correct. The shale (oil) revolution began in 2007 and $120-oil gave shale operators the opportunity.
DeleteSaudi greed provided the R&D $$s to get the oil shale back then. Now they are paying the price. What comes around goes around
DeleteYou are 1,000% correct. "We're" not out of the woods yet, and there could still be more bad news for US shale operators, but right now, they seem to be surviving.
Delete