Happy New Year, OPEC

Will OPEC nations including Saudi Arabia retaliate in any way they can to the latest turn of events?   Will they put inordinate pressure on their best friends in Congress to pressure the Obama administration to hold the line? It would be short-sighted to do so, which means they might try.  2015 could be a very interesting year.

Bloomberg/Business Week

U.S. Opening Door to More Oil Exports Seen Foiling OPEC Strategy

By Heesu Lee December 31, 2014

The Obama administration’s move to allow exports of ultralight crude without government approval may encourage shale drilling and thwart Saudi Arabia’s strategy to curb U.S. output, further weakening oil markets, according to Citigroup Inc.

A type of crude known as condensate can be exported if it is run through a distillation tower, which separates the hydrocarbons that make up the oil, according to U.S. government guidelines published yesterday. That may boost supplies ready to be sold overseas to as much as 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2015, Citigroup analysts led by Ed Morse in New York said in an e-mailed report.

Saudi Arabia led the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain its production quota at a meeting last month even as a shale boom boosted U.S. output to the highest in more than three decades. That prompted speculation OPEC was willing to let prices fall to force some companies with higher drilling costs to stop pumping.

VIDEO: Oil Price Seen to Stabilize After Supply Response

“U.S. producers are under the gun to reduce capital expenditures given lower prices,” Citigroup said in the report. “Now an export route provides a new lease on life that can further weaken crude oil markets and throw a monkey wrench into recent Saudi plans to cripple U.S. production.”

While the guidelines on the website of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security are the first public explanation of steps companies can take to avoid violating export laws, they don’t mean an end to the ban on most crude exports, which Congress adopted in 1975 in response to the Arab oil embargo.

STORY: The Relentless Production of Shale Oil Is Breaking OPEC’s Neck

“While government officials have gone out of their way to indicate there is no change in policy, in practice this long-awaited move can open up the floodgates to substantial increases in exports by end-2015,” Citigroup said. The U.S. produces about 3.81 million barrels a day of light and ultralight crude, according to the bank.

[...]  [Lots more to the report]

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