Many oil companies had trimmed their budgets heading into 2015 to deal with lower oil prices. But the rebound in April and May to $60 per barrel from the mid-$40s suggested that the severe drop was merely temporary.
Canada has given oil sands a dirty reputation, but a breakthrough, commercially viable technology has caught the eye of a former Exxon Mobil president who is putting it to use to clean up Utah's billions of barrels of oil sands.
The age of electrification across the transportation sector, the solar panel revolution, and Tesla's battery giga-factory are igniting a battle for the cheapest battery. That will transform lithium into a boom-time mineral and the hottest commodity on the energy investor's radar. It has been easy to take lithium for granted.
With the recently concluded nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries, oil prices have already started heading downward on sentiments that Iran's crude oil supply would further contribute to the already rising global supply glut. The economic crisis in Greece, OPEC's high production levels and China's market turmoil have created more pressure on oil prices, making a price rebound look highly unlikely in the near future.
Monday's 8% WTI crude decline is setting up a big opportunity for buyers. And there could be more to come. But this is driven by momentum, not by the fundamental conditions in the physical market.
In the age of derivatives, swaps, and electronic money transfers, a new form of warfare has emerged: financial warfare. Recently, the US has passed sanctions on countries such as Syria, Venezuela and North Korea, but the majority of energy related sanctions passed have been targeted at Iran and Russia.
Saudi Arabia continues to ratchet up production, taking market share away from U.S. shale producers. According to OPEC's latest monthly oil report, Saudi Arabia boosted its oil output to 10.31 million barrels per day in April, a slight increase over the previous month's total of 10.29 million barrels.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new mercury pollution regulations that took effect last month opened the flood gates for a new multi-billion-dollar energy industry that has investors scrambling to get in on second-generation technology poised for massive revenue gains.
When oil prices recover-and plenty of analysts think the climb back up will start soon-Canada's western frontier of Saskatchewan and neighboring Alberta will 'still have the edge'', according to a report from TD Economics. Depressed oil prices may have skewed the view from Canada's oil-producing west, but this will be one of the better places to bet on the oil rebound.
Outside of individual's holding oil stocks, damage to the economy from the fall in oil has been pretty minimal so far. Indeed, the price cut in home heating oil and gasoline has probably outweighed the damage from lower oil prices… so far. Unfortunately, this situation may not last.