Oil Price Levels News

Spending on the offshore service sector will outpace spending on the onshore shale sector this year, said Rystad Energy.According to Rystad's Oilfield Service Research report, service companies exposed to the offshore subsea market and the maintenance, modifications and operations (MMO) sector are set to benefit from this trend reversal.At current oil price levels, spending on land rigs, fracking and other services for the shale industry is likely to stay essentially flat in 2019. The offshore service market, too, will feel the effects of the recent oil price slide, but this sector is nevertheless projected to grow by a robust 4% this year…

The 20 year four-fold growth pattern in the world’s FPSO fleet stalls out in 2016 with a record number of FPSOs idle and available for redeployment – or perhaps to be forced into other uses, lay up or scrap. FPSO redeployments typically are far more complex, costly and risky than for (say) drillships and yet the need for redeploying idle FPSOs is now in the forefront of the industry like never before as FPSO owners also have to face the worst ever down market for their equipment and services.

This year, the offshore oil and gas industry has had to come to terms with the worst downturn for more than a decade. With commodity prices plummeting to an 11-year low in December, market research and consulting firm Douglas-Westwood (DW) reflects on the year gone by and considers the outlook for the year to come. Offshore rig markets still have a lot to digest before recovery. Rig dayrates have plummeted as a function of significant oversupply. Many of these rigs were ordered in the previous up-cycle, but have only recently entered the fleet at a time when the appetite to drill is poor.

Greece-based crude, product and LNG tanker operator Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (TEN) announced today a charter renewal of a handysize product carrier to a major state oil company for a period of 24 months commencing in September 2015 at a 20 percent premium to the previous rate. The latest charter, expected to generate approximately $13 million in total gross revenues, along with five charters announced last month for a suezmax crude tanker and four MR product carriers, increases the total minimum charter revenues of the fleet under secured employment to more than $750 million, the company said. “This new charter extension with its associated rate increase together with the recent announcement of the five charters is a confirmation that the tanker markets’ prospects remain strong.

Plunging global oil prices may turn hopes for cheap liquefied natural gas supplies from the United States into a costly disappointment for Asian buyers who have already invested billions of dollars in long-term contracts. The 26 percent price slide since June to $85 a barrel exposes cracks in the assumption by utilities and industrial companies from Japan to India that cheap U.S. LNG would muscle into high-value Asian energy markets from 2016. Oil prices form the backbone of LNG trade to Asia, because exporters outside the United States typically tie 25-year supply deals to crude oil prices. If prices continue to fall, these suppliers from Qatar to Australia will regain their edge over upstart U.S. producers. "From the buyer's view, $80 oil makes oil-linked supplies less expensive ...

"For Wärtsilä, 2013 was a year of varying activity within our different end markets. While the improvement in global vessel contracting was significant, power generation markets declined for the second consecutive year. Unfavourable exchange rates and some delayed deliveries at the end of the year led to a slightly weaker than expected net sales development. Profitability on the other hand developed well, reaching 11.2% for the full year. I am pleased with the resilience we have shown in reaching our profitability targets, despite the lower level of sales.