White House Leaves Door Open For Additional SPR Releases + It’s Implications

The White House said on Tuesday that it has many options to counteract OPEC+’s looming production cuts, including the release of even more crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

White House Leaves Door Open For Additional SPR Releases

Related:

The Implications Of U.S. SPR Withdrawals

Implications of OPEC-+ Production Cut 

I think OPEC has not learned from its past mistakes, as it is not a good time to cut oil production by 2 million bpd in November 2022, especially at a time when global economies are under pressure. While higher oil prices at this juncture may bring much needed oil revenues to (national) oil companies and OPEC members, this will come at the cost of accelerating a global recession, bringing more misery to consumers. Consequently, it will weaken global oil demand and oil prices. Oil prices in the range of $70-$80/bbls at this difficult time could be a win-win situation for both producers and consumers, and shield global economies from collapsing. Consequently, the U.S. should take its own measures to enhance its domestic oil production, encourage EVs and halt further releases of the SPR. Running down the SPR will allow OPEC+ more flexibility to play around with production.

Meanwhile:

U.S. Rig Count Slides Amid Jump In Crude Prices

China announces MASSIVE oil & gas discovery in Bohai Sea

RT | February 24, 2021

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) revealed this week that its newly discovered oil and gas field in the Bohai Sea contains proven geological reserves of 100 million metric tons of oil and gas equivalent. That makes Bozhong 13-2 one of the biggest crude oil production bases in the country, according to the company. The new field is located 140 kilometers off the coast of Tianjin at an average water depth of 23.2 meters, according to Zhou Xinhuai, general manager of the oil exploration department at CNOOC. The Bozhong 13-2-2 well, where the reserve was discovered, was drilled and completed at a depth of 5,223 meters, and encountered oil pay zones with a total thickness of approximately 346 meters. The well was tested to produce an average of approximately 1,980 barrels of crude oil per day. The company expects daily crude oil and natural gas generation from the well to reach 300 tons and 150,000 cubic meters, Zhou was cited as saying by China Daily. The Bohai oilfield is likely to start production in 2023 and achieve a peak output of 1.2 million tons of oil equivalent. According to industry experts, the Bohai Sea natural gas and oil discoveries will boost CNOOC’s annual output to above 80 million tons of oil equivalent by 2025. The company said in 2019 that its Bohai discoveries contain 100 billion cubic meters of proven geological reserves of natural gas. It expects the increased capacity from the new finds to help meet the surging demand for natural gas in northern and eastern China and reduce the country’s reliance on costly imports. China’s natural gas production reached 188.8 billion cubic meters in 2020, up 9.8 percent on a yearly basis, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics. Natural gas imports rose to 102 million cubic meters, up by 5.3 percent on a yearly basis.

China announces MASSIVE oil & gas discovery in Bohai Sea