until they can force American Fracking operations to start shutting down.
New production is frozen though as is LNG at this price.
I'm not sure the game of shutting down fracking really make sense. As I understand it (not being an oil industry insider nor expert), fracked wells are pretty small, which makes production rather elastic. If prices drop, fewer wells are drilled and production does stop, but the industry doesn't really go away. Equipment gets mothballed, supply production is cut, less experienced workers are laid off. But once prices go up back up the fracking starts right up again.
LNG involved massive facilities, huge political barriers, and time scales of a decade or longer, so stopping that with temporary low prices might be more plausible. If those projects get abandoned, to a large extent the clock is reset on them ever happening.
(American LNG may not be able to make much atm with the price window decreasing between here and Asia they also need to compete with oil which has more energy per barrel so its pretty grim presently)
In regards to fracking
It depends on the region and shale but based on the industry average price to get a barrel it costs 60 to 100 dollars so simply put it is uneconomical to produce if these prices remain for a long duration (less the minimum amount they need to produce to retain control of a wellhead and not give up the right, it means that the smaller companies will likely fold as they can't cover the operational costs and we may see some centralization in the new fracking zones)
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-01/can-the-us-fracking-boom-survive-with-oil-65-per-barrelHamm boasted that Continental could operate at $50 a barrel. Now the world will probably get to find out if that’s true.
Well we are below 50 so the economics simply may not be there at this price.
Formations that have money spent already and are near completion and operation will be pushed through even at this economic level as it is already a sunk cost, but new shale or fracking operations will be stopped or post-phoned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale_economicsThe production cost of a barrel of shale oil ranges from as high as US$95 per barrel to as low US$25 per barrel, although there is no recent confirmation of the latter figure.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/06/oil-price-casts-shadow-over-frackings-futureThe price of oil has dropped to around $55 per barrel, but fracking companies need prices of $60-100 to break even, reports Climate News Network
Fracking is an expensive business. Depending on site structure, companies need prices of between $60 (£40) and $100 per barrel of oil to break even. As prices drop to around $55 per barrel, investments in the sector look ever more vulnerable.
Analysts say that while bigger fracking companies might be able to sustain losses in the short term, the outlook appears bleak for the thousands of smaller, less well-financed companies who rushed into the industry, tempted by big returns.
There are now fears that many fracking operations may default on an estimated $200bn of borrowings, raised mainly through bonds issued on Wall Street and in the City of London.
In turn, this could lead to a collapse in global financial markets similar to the 2008 crash.
So economically oil price drops might do some damage here in the Bond market and cause some financial backlash.
Well finding the bottom is what the speculators are up to at the moment
40 dollar a barrel perhaps even a dip to 30 then questions of duration are we here for a long haul or only for the short run, lot of questions still in the oil market, kind of thinking it will be long term Saudis will keep production up Russia will keep production up until they can force American Fracking operations to start shutting down.
New production is frozen though as is LNG at this price.
Momentaly i don't see American Fracking operations to start shutting down. i see American Fracking operations to start new well 100000 barell every month.
Only must start shutting Canada oil sands,Australia off shore(some well)Kazahstan some well,Russia some well near arctic circle and well which have no direct connection with the pipeline.
proof
financial statement oil company
sample
Marathon oil
Exspense crude oil production
North America E&P $11.59
International Africa $5.13 the benefits of non-existence of laws on environmental protection
Oil Sands Mining (Canada) $45.95
Most of the big shale operations can weather this storm they have Hedges and Future contracts so they aren't feeling this yet, Alberta also has some money set up for this in the Heritage Savings Fund, after the lesson in the 1980s where Alberta took on debt this time around they are going to be doing some cuts to keep a balance.
Also the royalty structure can be adjusted in the short run due to economic circumstances so there is some leeway for the companies.
They can handle an even greater price squeeze Alberta has hedges and it uses WTI not Brent for its price so they already take discounts.
In the short run they do not need the Keystone line now, but Alberta does need it in the future to get rid of that price gap, that said the benefit for them now is that they will not need to use as many trains or current pipeline capacity to send oil and they can just cut back as needed, however paradoxically they are actually increasing production, as investments made before are starting to near completion.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/alberta-companies-vow-to-increase-pumping-despite-collapse-in-prices/article22323031/Alberta oil producers are poised to pump more crude into a North American market already brimming with U.S. shale supplies and booming oil sands output, deepening a glut that has sent prices into a tailspin and hammered energy shares across the board.The rapid slide in benchmark oil prices – U.S. crude this week crashed below $50 (U.S.) a barrel, down from more than $100 in June – has prompted deep cuts to capital spending and forced several companies to slash payouts to investors.
But many are pledging to boost output anyway, even as lower prices erode profits and threaten corporate cash flows.
Crescent Point Energy Corp. on Tuesday became the latest player to cut its 2015 budget while promising increased production. It axed planned spending 28 per cent from last year, to $1.45-billion (Canadian), while at the same time signalling
it expects overall output of oil, gas and liquids to jump by 9 per cent.Such moves by Alberta companies will dump more crude onto a continent grappling with severe oversupply, as producers opt to reduce investments in new projects rather than pull back the flow of oil today.
Another 300,000 barrels a day (b/d) is poised to come from the oil sands alone this year, according to ARC Financial Corp.
“No one wants to disappoint their shareholders and say we’re cutting production. That’s death,” said Judith Dwarkin, director of research at ITG Investment Research in Calgary. “So it’s a bit of doing what they can to stay afloat during a difficult period and hoping somebody else shuts in.”
Crescent Point joins a slew of energy companies predicting higher production despite spending cuts. Cenovus Energy Inc., which pared its 2015 budget by 15 per cent and said it may cut further, said it plans to increase oil sands production by about 9 per cent this year, for example.
Similarly, neither Husky Energy Inc. nor smaller independent MEG Energy Corp. forecast cuts to production, despite MEG lowering its planned expenditures this year by 75 per cent and Husky chopping its budget by a third.
Analysts say the mismatch reflects several factors: financial hedges that guarantee higher prices; shale drillers such as Crescent Point shifting capital to more economic zones; and the pending start-up of several big-ticket oil sands projects that began construction long before prices began their precipitous slide.
Those developments “can’t just turn on a dime,” Ms. Dwarkin said. “They’re not going to stop, even though prices are low.”On Tuesday, benchmark West Texas Intermediate skidded again, dropping 4.2 per cent to $47.93 (U.S.) a barrel. Western Canada Select oil sands crude fetched about $14.50 less than that, Calgary broker Net Energy Inc. said, or roughly $33.43 a barrel – roughly half expectations of some of the sector’s largest companies