Recently, the OPEC meeting decided to continue the policy of increasing crude oil production by 400,000 per barrel in January 2022. The meeting mentioned that “will pay close attention to the impact of the epidemic on the market”, but did not involve the release of US strategic reserves.
With the weakening of international oil prices, the emergence of the Omicron strain, and the release of strategic reserves by the United States and other countries, the market expects OPEC to adjust its original plan and moderately delay market supply. However, this is not the case. The release of the US Strategic Crude Oil Reserve has not affected OPEC’s decision, and OPEC has strengthened its control over global oil prices.
The US Biden administration announced in November that it would take joint actions with India, South Korea and other countries to release strategic oil reserves to stabilize oil prices. The US Department of Energy recently stated that it will directly sell 18 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on December 17. The 4.8 million barrels of oil in this batch of oil reserves will first be handed over to the American oil company Exxon Mobil.
According to reports, the US Department of Energy will release a total of 50 million barrels of crude oil. In addition to the 18 million barrels mentioned above, 32 million barrels will be used for short-term exchange in the next few months, which are scheduled to be returned between 2022 and 2024. In the latest short-term energy outlook, the US Energy Information Administration proposed that US crude oil production in November was estimated at 11.7 million barrels per day. By 2022, average production is expected to rise to 11.8 million barrels/day, and by the fourth quarter of 2022, average production will rise to 12.1 million barrels/day.
Recently, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and chief negotiator of the Iranian nuclear agreement said that the two sides have major differences on the topics and scope of the negotiations, but he is optimistic that the two sides have narrowed their differences in the past few days of negotiations. The statement also said that if the negotiations are successful, the United States should lift all unreasonable sanctions imposed on Iran. Iran is not naive about this process. If progress is made and the United States lifts sanctions on Iran, Iran’s oil exports will reach 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day. But at present, it will take time for the negotiations to achieve substantial progress.
Post time: Dec-17-2021
