Inventories will continue to rise, but the momentum is slowing.
The following are some observations as to how we got here and how we’re gonna get out.
9 reasons why oil has taken so long to bottom:
1. OPEC increased production in 2015 to multiyear highs, principally in Saudi Arabia and Iraq where production between the two added 1.5 million barrels per day (mb/d) to inventories after the no cut stance was adopted.
2. Russian production increased in 2015 to post Soviet highs.
3. Long planned Gulf of Mexico production began coming on in late 2015.
4. An overhang of 3,000 or 4,000 shale wells that were drilled but uncompleted (“ducks”) entered a completion cycle in 2015.
5. Service companies and suppliers went to zero margin survival pricing (not to be confused with efficiency). The result has been an artificial boost to completions that cannot be sustained.
6. Resilience among a few operators in the Permian who felt the need to thump their chests, creating the rally that killed the rally last spring (disclosure: I own stock in Pioneer Resources but am going to dump it if they don’t cut it out!).
7. The dollar strengthened.
8. Iranian exports are coming.
9. And, finally, China.
5 Demand-Side Reasons Why We Need to Hang-On:
