OPEC has formed a committee to examine the impact of U.S. shale oil, an admission that the burgeoning supply is worrying some of its members.  More »

OPEC oil ministers reached quick agreement Friday on keeping output targets steady but deferred solutions on how to deal with surging U.S. shale oil production and internal rivalries denting the organization’s image of unity.  More »

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, is content with current conditions in the oil market, the kingdom’s petroleum minister said three days before OPEC members meet to assess the group’s output policy.  More »

Saudi Arabia will need to drop production by a million barrels a day from 2012 levels if it wants to keep the global oil market balanced and defend $100 Brent, according to Energy Security Analysis Inc. consulting firm.  More »

Middle Eastern countries are starting to feel the pinch of the U.S. shale revolution. Even Saudi Arabia will find new competition for its liquefied petroleum gas and other feedstock exports, as the United States hikes its exports of natural gas liquids.  More »

Forget the Arab Spring. Islamists have already hijacked it. But, as if internally extinguishing the hope of democracy isn’t enough, dark clouds are now gathering to blot out the economic ‘sun’ for the oil-powered Middle East states, ushering in – courtesy of the West’s technological fracking ‘miracle’ – a new Arab winter.  More »

Since its inception in 1960, OPEC has never been shy in flexing its energy-fuelled power over the West. But those days are gone. And it’s not just the US and Israeli shale gas and oil revolution which threatens OPEC decline. OPEC is already grappling with a whole bunch of serious energy problems that are colluding to hasten its demise.  More »

The International Energy Agency slashed its forecasts for global oil demand in 2013, predicting the weakest consumption in Europe since the 1980s.  More »

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s biggest crude exporter, also expects to become the top producer of refined products such as fuel and petrochemicals, according to Khalid al-Falih, the company’s chief executive.  More »

The chief executive of the world’s largest oil giant said Tuesday at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston that he planned to invest heavily in renewable energy technology, even during a renaissance of fossil fuel production.  More »

We are used to expecting that more investment will yield more output, but in the real world, things don’t always work out that way. Figure 1. Comparison of 2005 to 2011 percent change in real GDP vs percent change in oil consumption, both on a per ca…  More »

The Lone Star State is earning a new moniker: Saudi Texas. Oil production in Texas is soaring, jumping to an average 2.139 million barrels a day in November — the best showing in more than 25 years.  More »