The Missing Oil Crisis of 2014

• While the full impact of the surge in US "tight oil" may be masked by problems elsewhere, it is on the same scale--but opposite direction--as key factors that led to the 2007-8 oil price spike.
• In that light it does not seem like hyperbole to credit the recent revival of US oil output with averting another global oil crisis.

Several speakers at last month's annual EIA Energy Conference in Washington, DC reminded the audience that energy security extends beyond oil, starting with Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). In her keynote remarks Monday morning she was quick to point out that it also encompasses electricity, sustainability, and energy's effects on the climate and vice versa. Still, the comment that got my wheels turning came from Dan Yergin, author and Vice Chairman of IHS. During his lunch keynote he suggested that without US tight oil production, this year's conference would have been dominated by another oil crisis.

Although shale energy development certainly deserves to be called revolutionary, crediting it with averting an oil crisis calls for a bit of "show me." Yet with problems in Libya, Nigeria and Iraq, while Iranian oil remains under sanctions and oil demand picks up again, even at first glance Mr. Yergin's assertion looks like more than a casual, lunch-speech sound-bite.

Start with current US tight oil (LTO) production of over 3 million barrels per day (MBD) and estimates of future LTO production rising to as much as 8 MBD--also the subject of much discussion at the conference. As recently as 2008 total US crude oil output had fallen to just 5 MBD and was only expected to recover to around 6 MBD by 2014, with minimal contribution from unconventional oil. Instead, the US is on track to beat 2013's 22-year record of 7.4 MBD, perhaps by as much as another million bbl/day.

With conventional production in Alaska and California declining or at best flat, and with Gulf of Mexico output just starting to recover from the post-Deepwater Horizon drilling moratorium and subsequent "permitorium", the net increase in US crude production attributable to LTO today is in the range of 2.5-3.5 MBD and growing, thanks to soaring output in North Dakota, Texas and other states.

That might not sound like much in a global oil market of over 90 MBD, but it brackets the IEA's latest estimate of OPEC's effective unused production capacity of 3.3 MBD. Spare capacity and changes in inventory are key measures of how much slack the oil market has at any time. When OPEC spare capacity fell below 2 MBD in 2007-8, oil prices rose sharply from around $70 per barrel to their all-time nominal high of $145 per barrel. It took a global recession and financial crisis to extinguish that price spike, and high oil prices were likely a major contributor to the recession.

Global oil inventories are now a little below their seasonal average for this time of the year. Compensating for the absence of over 3 MBD of US tight oil would require higher production elsewhere, lower demand, or a drain on those inventories that would by itself push prices steadily higher.

Concerning production, if the US tight oil boom hadn't happened, more investment might have flowed to other exploration and production opportunities. However, for non-LTO production to have grown by an extra 3 MBD, companies would have had to invest--starting in the middle of the last decade--in the projects necessary to deliver that oil now. Were that many deepwater and conventional onshore projects deferred or canceled because companies anticipated today's level of LTO production more than 5 years ago? And would Iraq, Libya and Nigeria be more reliable suppliers today if US companies hadn't been drilling thousands of wells in shale formations for the last several years? Both propositions seem doubtful.

As for adjustments in demand, US petroleum consumption is  already over 8% less than in 2007. And as we learned in the run-up to 2008, much of the oil demand in the developing world, where it has grown fastest, is less sensitive to changes in oil prices than demand in developed countries, due to high levels of consumer petroleum subsidies in the former. Petroleum product prices in the latter must increase significantly in order to get consumers there to cut their usage by enough to balance tight global supplies. That dynamic played an important role in oil prices coming very close to $150 per barrel six years ago, when average retail unleaded regular in the US peaked at $4.11 per gallon, equivalent to nearly $4.50 per gallon today.

So to summarize, if the US tight oil boom hadn't happened, it's unlikely that other non-OPEC production would have increased by a similar amount in the meantime, or that OPEC would have the capability or inclination to make up the resulting shortfall versus current demand out of its spare capacity. Demand would have had to adjust lower, and that only happens when oil and product prices rise significantly. With oil already at $100 per barrel, it's not hard to imagine such a scenario adding at least $40 to oil prices--just over half the 2007-8 spike. Combined with higher net oil imports, that would have expanded this year's US trade deficit by around $230 billion. US gasoline prices today would average near $4.60 per gallon, instead of $3.54, taking an extra $140 billion a year out of consumers' pockets.

We can never be certain about what would have happened without the current surge in US tight oil, but for a reminder of how a similar situation was characterized just a few years ago, please Google "2008 oil crisis".  If we found ourselves in similar circumstances today, then the heated Congressional hearings and angry consumers to which Mr. Yergin alluded in his remarks would almost certainly have been major topics at EIA's 2014 conference, instead of the realistic prospect of legalized US oil exports.

A different version of this posting was previously published on the website of Pacific Energy Development Corporation.

Energy Crisis Prices Persist

Watching oil prices is a hard habit to break, once formed. They're always moving up and down, sometimes for obvious reasons and sometimes not. It has probably escaped most observers' notice that the magnitude of this year's price moves has exceeded the total nominal price of oil that prevailed not many years ago, yet without the sort of apocalyptic events that one might expect such volatility would require. Perhaps that's because we seem to be stuck in the middle of an ongoing, slow-boil oil crisis from which the financial crisis and the demand contraction that accompanied the global recession only provided a brief respite. In fact, when you glance at the oil price trend in real dollars over the last 40 years, it's apparent that prices are back at the level associated with the peak of the oil crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s:


One reason I've been paying extra attention to oil prices lately is that I've been observing the impact of the coordinated release from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and strategic reserves of other members of the International Energy Agency. So far, my initial assessment that it would have little lasting effect seems to have been validated, though I'll reserve judgment until the oil is actually delivered during August, when we might see the market respond to the increase in commercial oil inventories that should result. Robert Rapier had an excellent posting yesterday on the folly of this decision. My view is, if anything, less flattering. Not only was this choice unwise, but it also appears to have been ineffective, which in the current economic climate is an even more damning assessment.

The modest response to this move tells us something about the fundamentals of the market. In the past, an SPR release on this scale would have crushed prices--not just for a few days, but for months at least. Consider the release that accompanied the start of the first Gulf War in 1991. Only about half of the nearly 34 million bbls authorized was eventually sold, but the price of oil dropped by 33% overnight and took 13 years to recover to the peak it had reached during the lead-up to Desert Storm. By comparison, the announced release of 30 million bbls from the US SPR--the sale of which was fully-subscribed--and another 30 million bbls from other IEA members managed to depress the price of oil by only around 5% for a week or so. As of this morning Brent crude, the global marker, is $4/bbl higher than it was on June 22nd. And as of this Monday's survey, the average pump price of unleaded regular in the US was also higher than before the President announced the release.

The market's tepid reaction to the SPR release suggests that oil prices have been driven up by more than just speculators. Speculation may be playing a role, but it's more like the head on a glass of beer. Beneath that froth lies the robust demand growth in the developing world, which has pushed global oil consumption to a record level of 89 million bbl/day this year. On the supply side, some point to incipient Peak Oil, but characterizing the crisis we're in doesn't require a grand theory. In addition to the curtailment of production from places like Libya and Yemen, and OPEC's desire to keep a lid on output to preserve their revenues, there's a fundamental mismatch between the companies that have the capital and the desire to invest in new production, and the willingness of some governments to grant access to the resources, whether in the Middle East or the US. All of this is compounded by the inherent time lags in resource development, which can range from 5-10 years, depending on the technology and permits required.

As different as the causes and symptoms of this crisis are from those of the 1970s, the broad outline of solutions remains quite similar: Reduce demand, increase supplies, and diversify our sources of energy. We have more and better options than in 1979, but still no miracle cures.

Europe's Oil Price Spike

In our relentless focus on the excesses of the financial sector, many Americans have forgotten that the severe recession we've just experienced was at least exacerbated, if not partially caused by an oil price shock. Now it might be Europe's turn, as the Euro continues its slide against the US dollar. It's a fairly obvious point that a weakening Euro increases the cost of all commodity imports into the EU's Eurozone, while reducing the effective revenue for any exports made with them. Yet when the import is oil, the effects go beyond international competitiveness.

Oil prices have roughly doubled in dollar terms since their low point in January 2009, but they have gone up by an extra 25% in Euros per barrel over the same interval. The divergence this year is even more striking, as the Euro retreats from its highs of last December. Since January 1, oil is up by nearly 6% in €/bbl but down by nearly 12% in $/bbl, as shown in the chart blow. A further retreat to Euro-dollar parity would see the Eurozone's businesses paying nearly as much for oil in their own currency as they did in September 2008, the last time the US saw prices over $100 per barrel.



The previous strength of the Euro partially insulated the Continent's businesses and consumers from the worst oil-price pain of the first half of 2008. When oil reached its all-time high of $145/bbl in July of that year, it was barely over €90/bbl. Then, as oil prices ebbed, the strong currency/weak oil combo provided a substantial economic stimulus to Europe lasting well into 2009, with oil averaging just €44/bbl last year, compared to $62 here.

The shoe is on the other foot, for now, as Europe enjoys little of the recent weakening of oil prices from levels above $80/bbl, while experiencing a mini-spike since the start of the year. And with various pundits suggesting the Euro still has a ways to fall, Europe could be facing oil prices over €70/bbl, instead of the roughly €60/bbl for which UK Brent Crude effectively trades today. That would compound the fallout from the EU's fiscal crisis and amplify the risk of a double-dip recession, perhaps even globally.

Gasoline Stimulus Update

Although it doesn't appear among the statistics that economists and market participants routinely track to assess our recovery from what some have been calling the Great Recession, a quick check on the status of the "gasoline stimulus" I described in June seems in order. Year-to-date, the retail price of regular gasoline has averaged $1.31/gallon below its price in the same week of 2008, leaving the typical American household with roughly an extra $110 per month of disposable income to spend on other goods and services, compared with last year. However, barring another dramatic collapse of crude oil prices from their present level of just under $70/barrel, that benefit should disappear within the next few weeks. Last October gas prices fell by more than a buck a gallon and began November 2008 below their current level. Once these lines cross over, any stimulus benefit from cheaper gas will be erased, with uncertain consequences in an economy in which unemployment is still rising.

The fact that average US gas prices topped out at only $2.69/gal. this year, far below last year's peak of $4.11/gal., was mainly a reflection of the weakness of the global economy. US gasoline demand through July was running at around 1% below the same period a year earlier, on top of 2008's roughly 3% drop. Together with very weak diesel demand, that also contributed to much lower refining margins this year, compared to the last couple years. However, even if refining margins averaged zero for the rest of this year, it would take a crude oil price drop on the order of $15/bbl to send gasoline prices below $2/gal., where they were last Thanksgiving. And we'd probably have to see oil down around $40/bbl to end the year close to the $1.61/gal. reported last December 29.

As I noted early in the year, although this gasoline stimulus was helpful while the federal stimulus effort was gearing up, it was always going to be short-lived. And just like the fiscal stimulus, we'll never know how many jobs it saved or helped create, though it's clear that we'd have been much worse off had this year's gas prices reprised their 2008 levels.

The R-Words

Despite much political rhetoric to the contrary, economists are not yet certain whether the US economy is in a recession, or merely experiencing a period of slowing growth. If history is any guide, and if we're lucky enough to experience a brief contraction instead of a lengthy slump, we might not even know for sure until after it's over. But with the odds of one now much higher than they were last year, I was surprised to read an article in the Financial Times suggesting that the prospect of a recession doesn't figure in the plans of many large energy companies. A review of some data from the early 1990s indicates that the industry is not as recession-proof as it might wish to believe.

Even without a recession, the growth of US gasoline demand has already slowed significantly from an average of just under 2% per year from 1992-2002 to about 1% per year over the last five years, as gasoline prices rose in tandem with crude oil. The Department of Energy hasn't finalized its 2007 figures, yet, but gasoline demand growth appears to have fallen below 0.5%, thanks to near-record prices in the second half of the year. But that's not as low as it can go. During the recession of 1990-91, gasoline demand shrank by an average of 1% per year, at a time when the average gasoline price was well under $2.00 per gallon in 2007 dollars. A couple of years of 1% declines would cut US gasoline demand by 180,000 barrels per day (bpd.)




Viewed in isolation, that doesn't sound like much. Now put it in the context of a federal renewable fuels mandate that will add another 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol per year within two years, or around 300,000 bpd, and two massive refinery expansions in Texas and Louisiana, which together could add at least another 250,000 bpd of gasoline supply by 2010. The net change over that period would reduce the current US gasoline deficit--the average daily quantity we must import--from 1.1 million bpd of finished gasoline and blending components to 400,000 bpd.

So far, this all sounds fairly positive for both the industry and the country as a whole: more domestic output, less consumption, and all at the expense of some foreign suppliers. The problem from an industry perspective, however, is what this could do to refining margins, because of the way the market functions. Imports come in when the local supply falls short and the local wholesale price increases by enough to cover the foreign price, plus freight and a profit for the importer. And while those imports are arriving, all the domestic refiners supplying that market benefit from the higher price, increasing the margin they make on the crude oil they process. Taking 700,000 bpd out of gasoline imports might still leave us short over the course of the year, but it would reduce the frequency and possibly the duration of periods when imports would be required in areas that don't rely on them for their base supply. I don't see how that could fail to take a bite out of refining margins, which for the last several years have been sufficiently robust to transform the refining sector from a perennial drag on oil company profitability into a major earnings contributor.

Irrespective of what might happen to crude oil prices in a slowdown, recessions and refineries don't go well together. Companies with a large exposure to refining, particularly the pure-plays and those with expansions coming on-stream in the next two years, ought to be thinking very seriously about how a recession might affect them, and making their plans accordingly.