"US likely to stay world’s top oil producer for while, report says" by Grant Smith | Bloomberg News July 05, 2014
LONDON — The United States will remain the world’s biggest oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as extraction of energy from shale rock spurs the nation’s economic recovery, Bank of America Corp. said....
‘‘The US increase in supply is a very meaningful chunk of oil,’’ Francisco Blanch, the bank’s head of commodities research, said by phone from New York. ‘‘The shale boom is playing a key role in the US recovery. If the US didn’t have this energy supply, prices at the pump would be completely unaffordable.’’
Oil extraction is soaring at shale formations in Texas and North Dakota as companies split rocks using high-pressure liquid, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The surge in supply combined with restrictions on exporting crude....
‘‘It’s very likely the US stays as number one producer for the rest of the year’’ as output is set to increase in the second half, Blanch said. Production growth outside the country has been lower than the bank anticipated, keeping global oil prices high, he said.
‘‘The shale production story is bigger than Iraqi production, but it hasn’t made the impact on prices you would expect,’’ said Blanch. ‘‘Typically such a large energy supply growth should bring prices lower, but in fact we’re not seeing that because the whole geopolitical situation outside the US is dreadful.’’
Gains in northern Iraq by Islamic State has spurred concerns that oil flows could be disrupted in OPEC after Saudi Arabia.
I was told they took over the oil station, but that appeared to be nothing but pure propaganda.
Exports from Libya have been reduced by protests, and Nigeria’s production is crimped by theft and sabotage.
Not much coming out of Nigeria lately.
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"Oil on 2-week slide even with Mideast turmoil" Associated Press July 10, 2014
NEW YORK — The price of oil fell for the ninth straight day Wednesday as global supplies continue to flow, despite unrest in the world’s most important oil-producing region.
That could mean lower gasoline prices for US drivers in the weeks ahead.
Related: Local gas prices fall 3 cents a gallon, AAA says
About what they have dropped around here in the last week.
The insurgency in Iraq is far from resolved, but it hasn’t halted oil exports. The fighting now seems unlikely to spread to Iraq’s oil fields.
Then ISIS is exactly what we have been saying: a faceless fiction composed of mercenary ghosts. They don't hit the hated West were it would hurt and cripple most?
When are these stupid terrorists going to wake up? What do they do instead under Mickey Mouse Baghdadi? Commit horrific atrocities against the population they are trying to win over.
And Libya’s crude exports appear poised to surge after an agreement between the government and local militias cleared the way for export terminals to open. Plus US production continues to soar.
At the same time, refineries have already made much of the gasoline needed for summer, so crude demand will begin to ebb over the next couple of months.
‘‘We in the US are sitting on a ton of crude oil,’’ said analyst Stephen Schork of Schork Group.
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Related: Pact on Libyan terminals helps to lower oil prices
That's why a coup was needed, even as the fighting continues.
UPDATE: Tar sands oil ban back up for debate in South Portland, Maine
