Here are some takeaways from the Internstional Energy Agency’s Oil Market Report, released today (my bold):
“The clearly expressed determination of the United States to reduce Iran’s exports by as much as possible suggests that shipments could be reduced by significantly more than the 1.2 mb/d seen in the previous round of sanctions. In June, Iran’s crude exports fell back by about 230 kb/d, albeit from a relatively high level in May, as European purchases dropped by nearly 50%. Most of Iran’s oil goes to Asia, however, with China and India currently taking over 600 kb/d each. When you also consider that both China and India are exposed to Venezuela, importing respectively 250 kb/d and 325 kb/d, it is clear that the world’s second and third biggest oil consumers could face major challenges in sourcing alternative compatible barrels.”
And, this:
”The re-emergence of Libya as a risk factor in global supply follows a series of attacks on key infrastructure that saw production plummet to around 500 kb/d in July from close to the 1 mb/d level seen for about a year. At the time of writing, the situation seemed to be improving, but we cannot know if stability will return. The fact that so much production is vulnerable is clearly a cause for concern. Incidentally, China receives nearly 140 kb/d of oil from Libya. Two other supply disruptions are likely to be short-lived. In Alberta, 360 kb/d of output from Syncrude’s heavy crude upgrading facility was shut-in from 20 June and in the North Sea oil production fell sharply in May by nearly 360 kb/d and output likely remained constrained due to summer maintenance and strike action in Norway. In addition, Brazilian production growth so far in 2018 has been lower than expected. At the same time, refiners’ thirst for crude oil will remain high during the summer period before seasonal maintenance kicks in. ”
”Some of these supply issues are likely to be resolved, but the large number of disruptions reminds us of the pressure on global oil supply. This will become an even bigger issue as rising production from Middle East Gulf countries and Russia, welcome though it is, comes at the expense of the world’s spare capacity cushion, which might be stretched to the limit. This vulnerability currently underpins oil prices and seems likely to continue doing so. We see no sign of higher production from elsewhere that might ease fears of market tightness. Indeed, in this Report, our overall growth outlook for non-OPEC production in 2018 has been reduced slightly to 1.97 mb/d, although in turn our 2019 growth estimate shows a modest increase to 1.84 mb/d.”
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