Les producteurs de gaz de schiste refluent-ils ?
Oil Spread Shows Saudi Shale Strategy Working: Chart of the Day -
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-13/oil-spread-shows-saudi-shale-strategy-working-chart-of-the-day.html
Oil Spread Shows Saudi Shale Strategy Working: Chart of the Day
By Grant Smith
International crude oil prices are close to undercutting the main U.S. grade for the first time in 18 months, a signal to Societe Generale SA that Saudi Arabia’s strategy of curbing growth in shale production is working.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows how West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil grade traded in New York, cost $1.28 a barrel less than Brent, the international benchmark, at 9:30 a.m. in London today. A year ago, the American price was $15.49 lower, fortifying the nation’s refineries with cheaper feedstocks and hastening a slump for European processors.
The gap is narrowing in part because Saudi Arabia is leading the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in maintaining crude production amid a global surplus. The strategy is to curb output growth from shale formations and higher cost producers. A narrower gap helps make international crudes more attractive to U.S. refiners while a wider one does the opposite.
“It would show that their strategy is doing what it’s designed to do, absolutely,” said Mike Wittner, the head of oil research at Societe Generale in New York. “ Our forecast shows they will achieve their goal of slowing down, and possibly reversing the growth in U.S. shale.” The policy isn’t without cost to Saudi Arabia and other oil producers. The price of crude is now less than half what it was in June.
