Oil

Established to manage Norway’s oil revenues, the country’s sovereign wealth fund surpassed the $1-trillion (1.8-trillion-euro) mark on Tuesday thanks to the recent appreciation of the world’s major currencies against the US dollar and rising stock markets across the world. This amount equals nearly $189,000 (€157,000) for each of the 5.3 million people living in Norway.

Established in the 1990s to manage the Norwegian state’s oil revenues, the fund set the record thanks to the appreciation of the world’s major currencies against the dollar and a good stock market health.

Crude Oil is showing an interesting technical pattern. The rally that has developed in the first half of September has now exceeded the 200 days moving average. Furthermore the WTI is now testing the not less important trendline that joins the 2014 top with the decreasing highs of the first half of this year. This movement is part of an accumulation that had begun form the lows of 2016 and gained strength on the progressively rising lows of the last 12 months.

BP beat analyst expectations on Tuesday, despite profits more than halving from the first three months of the year after a hefty charge from an unsuccessful project in Angola. The British oil giant is the last of the world’s biggest Western oil companies to report its quarterly earnings.

The British oil giant’s profits were down from $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2017 and lower than the $720 million reported over the same period in 2016. Shares of BP were more than 3.6 percent higher during morning deals on Tuesday.

It is ironic that the fate of the US dollar depends on whether Saudi Arabia will continue to insist on accepting only US dollars for oil. The Free Thought Project had a good article by Jay Syrmopoulos on this subject on 16th July 2017, Russia and China Declare All Out War on US Petrodollar – Prepare for Exclusive Trade in Gold, which was picked up by Activist Post. It is the position of the US dollar as the main world reserve currency that has made it possible for the US to continue in its role as the global policeman or, as some would have it, the imperialist bully.

U.S. construction and fracking major Halliburton expects that the worst crude crash in a generation will lead to a spike in oil prices by 2020., according to World Oil.

Tumbling oil prices brought on by a glut of global oil has forced the industry to slash about $2 trillion in investments, according to the world’s biggest fracking provider. The oil industry has lost $2 trillion in investments due to chronically low prices, said Mark Richard senior Vice President for global business development at the World Petroleum Conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.

By 2030 Europe is aiming to have 27% of energy market in renewable energy. On June 26 New York State was the 4th State in USA to commit to 50% use of renewables by 2030. Not to mention rapid growth of the Australian and Asian markets. Picking Alpha has asked Dan Gramza to comment on the relationship between Renewable Energy and Coal Markets.

Q.: On what parts of Renewable Energy value chain do we have fully developed future markets?

D.G.: At the present time, we do not have Renewable Energy futures markets.

OPEC is meeting in Vienna to discuss rolling over its six-month deal with 11 other exporters to remove 1.8 million barrels a day from the oil market in order to shrink global crude stockpiles. Consensus has formed in recent weeks around a nine-month extension, along the lines of a plan agreed to last week bySaudi Arabia and Russia.

Most analysts expect the cartel to extend production cuts for another six to nine months following recent statements from major oil players.

The Saudi strategy of not reducing production in 2015 so as not to lose market share and at the same time knock American shale producers out of the market was only partially successful in that market share was maintained while American shale oil producers were put under pressure.