Bloomberg (September 2)
“If oil prices take another dramatic slide…, who wins and who loses? And could plummeting oil prices sow the seeds of the next recession?” Even in oil consuming nations, lower oil prices “come with a downside. As they work their way through the system, deflation could follow.”
Tags: Deflation, Downside, Oil, Plummeting, Prices
Financial Times (August 11)
Fears are growing of a meltdown in the aluminum market as Chinese output soars and, much like the oil market, supply outstrips demand. “China now accounts for more than half of global supply, up from 18 per cent in 2003 thanks to cheap power and the world’s most efficiently built smelters. Established producers from North America to Russia and the Middle East—facing the lowest prices since the financial crisis, reduced margins and profits—are anxious but do not want to cut capacity for fear of losing market share.”
Tags: Aluminum, Capacity, China, Fears, Margins, Market share, Meltdown, Middle East, North America, Oil, Output, Profits, Russia, Smelters
Institutional Investor (July 14)
Brazil hopes that a return of foreign capital might provide “an economic boost.” The country sure needs it. The economy has slumped “from 7.5 percent in 2010 to just 0.1 percent in 2014.” It is now in recession. “The end of the global commodities supercycle and the oil market collapse explain much of the decline, but domestic policy problems—including a growing deficit and accelerating inflation—are also to blame.”
Tags: Brazil, Collapse, Commodities, Deficit, Economy, Foreign capital, Inflation, Oil, Recession, Supercycle
The Economist (July 4)
“Shale matters. The industry has become huge—listed firms have invested over half a trillion dollars of capital…. Shale firms owe almost as much debt as Greece. After drilling beneath much of Texas and North Dakota, they account for 5% of global oil output. The health of shale firms affects people around the world, from Western drivers and Saudi Arabia’s sheikhs to Asia’s consumers.”
Tags: Asia, Capital, Consumers, Debt, Drilling, Greece, North Dakota, Oil, Output, Saudi Arabia, Shale, Texas
Financial Times (May 19)
“More than $100bn of spending on new projects by the world’s energy companies has been slowed, postponed or axed following the oil price plunge, evidence of the drastic industry action that will curb output in coming years.” The revisions affect 26 major projects worldwide and, taken as a whole, will “delay future production” by up to 1.5 million barrels a day, the equivalent of nearly 2% of global oil production in 2013.
Tags: Delay, Drastic, Energy, New projects, Oil, Output, Postponed, Production, Spending
Institutional Investor (March 24)
“A reversal for the dollar and oil have not yet quenched investors’ appetite for euro-denominated risk assets.” In the absence of a market-shaping event, “investors keep flocking to Europe.”
Tags: Dollar, Euro-denominated, Europe, Investors, Oil, Reversal, Risk assets
Wall Street Journal (January 30)
“Trouble has been looming over the oil patch since crude prices began falling last summer, from over $100 a barrel to under $50 today. But only now are the long-feared effects of a bust starting to ripple through the complex energy ecosystem, affecting Houston executives, California landowners and oil old-timers in Oklahoma.”
Tags: Barrel, Bust, California, Crude prices, Energy ecosystem, Falling, Houston, Oil, Oklahoma, Trouble
The Economist (January 23)
The death of King Abdullah “could hardly have come at a more challenging time for Saudi Arabia.” His successor “King Salman has inherited a realm that is the world’s top oil exporter at a time when prices have plunged; is home to Islam’s holiest sites of Mecca and Medina at a time when jihadist violence is at a peak; and has been dragged into turmoil in the region.”
Tags: Islam, Jihadist, King Abdullah, King Salman, Mecca, Medina, Oil, Prices, Saudi Arabia, Successor, Turmoil, Violence
The Economist (January 17)
“The fall in the price of oil and gas provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix bad energy policies.”Governments around the world should “seize” this chance.
Tags: Energy, Gas, Governments, Oil, Opportunity, Policies, Price
Institutional Investor (January 6)
Amid “slowing global growth concerns and plummeting oil,” Russia has become a “cornered bear.” Food shortages and other anecdotal evidence suggest the domestic economy is crumbling and “that the pain is far from over.” Putin’s chances of finding “a solution that can provide economic relief while allowing him to save face” are looking “increasingly slim.”
Tags: Economy, Food shortages, Global growth, Oil, Pain, Putin, Relief, Russia
