The EIA announced a 209 Bcf withdrawal for the week ended Dec. 16, the largest withdrawal since January. The draw was in the high end of market expectations. The full range of forecasts ahead of the release was -179 to -216. The 209 Bcf draw compares to a 33 Bcf…

US crude oil stocks increased by 2.3 MMBbl last week. Gasoline and distillate inventories decreased by 1.3 MMBbl and 2.4 MMBbl respectively. Yesterday afternoon, API had reported a crude oil and distillate withdrawal of 4.1 MMBbl and 1.5 MMBbl respectively, as well as a 2.0 MMBbl gasoline withdrawal. Analysts had…

OPEC production is primarily from conventional reservoirs. These reservoirs require reservoir pressure management. Some have suggested that Saudi Arabia’s rationale for cutting production was to reverse reservoir damage that overproduction has/may have caused. Preservation of reservoir integrity may ultimately limit “immediate” upwards adds to inventory from OPEC. The temptation to…

CRUDE OIL Inventory levels for crude oil decreased 2.6 MMBbl last week as reported by the EIA. Gasoline stock rose by 0.5 MMBbl while distillate stocks decreased by 0.8 MMBbl. Total petroleum inventories decreased by 2.0 MMBbl. The withdrawal was due to the lower imports (7.4 MMBbl/d), down 943 MBbl/d…

Following the tentative start of lifting of international sanctions in early 2016, and the government’s announcement of a new tender round for oil and gas projects, Iran is once again demanding investment attention from the international oil and gas industry. Iran has the fourth largest proven oil (157.8 Bbo; BP…