TPi September 2017

Oil and gas market: an analysis and how to steer your way through it By Barry Rust, energy and sustainability manager, Tata Steel

The economics of supply and demand (assisted by OPEC’s production policy) resulted in a 47 per cent decline in Brent Crude from the summer of 2014 to, in 2016, the lowest average annual price since 2004. While OPEC’s recent decision to cap production by 1.2 million barrels of oil per day has triggered an increase in commodity prices, it may be that this policy will last no longer than six months. Meanwhile, our journey to a lower carbon economy has well and truly started. As an example, it has been forecast that the renewable industry’s proportion of global energy generation

W hile there are suggestions that, after three years, the downturn in the oil and gas industry may have bottomed out, the sector remains in a state of flux, particularly in terms of the supply and demand markets.

China’s thirst for energy to fuel its industrial growth has abated somewhat and is unlikely, in the medium term, to hit those heady heights experienced in recent years. The rapid growth of the North American shale industry has added 15 per cent to recoverable reserves.

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TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL September 2017

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