Thursday April 2, 2015

// April 2nd, 2015 // Daily News

Goldman Sachs on oil: US needs to cut, not OPEC

Matt Clinch | @mattclinch81
CNBC.com
The onus for restoring the oil price back to an equilibrium lies squarely on the shoulders of countries like the U.S. and not on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a top Goldman Sachs analyst told CNBC.
Michele Della Vigna, head of European energy research at Goldman Sachs, said non-OPEC oil producers had created the oversupply in the market which has weighed on prices.
“I think the market has realized that where we need to find the adjustment is onshore U.S. and that’s where the market is focused,” he told CNBC Thursday.
“The adjustment is starting to happen there. Clearly an OPEC cut would help getting to the equilibrium faster, but at the end of the day, it is non-OPEC that needs to sort out the oversupply that it has created.”
Weak global demand and booming U.S. shale oil production are seen as two key reasons behind oil’s price plunge, which has fallen around 50 percent since mid-June last year. OPEC’s reluctance to cut its output at its last meeting in November has also weighed on the commodity.
OPEC, a group of 12 major oil producers which accounts for 40 percent of the world’s crude oil output, has continually iterated that the organization has no intention to meet again until June. But Della Vigna said he believes a cut in production at this meeting is even less likely than at November’s talks.
OPEC countries are able to extract oil from the ground at a cheaper cost than U.S. shale firms, and there has been speculation that the two industries could be playing a “game of chicken” before cutting back to ease oversupply.
So far, the U.S. has bared the brunt of the cut in production, with data from the EIA (Energy Information Administration) Wednesday showing a fall in the amount of rigs that are in operation and a drop in U.S. output for the first time since late December.
This helped snap a three-day losing streak for oil, with gains of around $2. But the commodity edged lower again on Thursday morning, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures falling 0.13 percent to 49.95 a barrel by 9:00 a.m. London time, and Brent crude futures falling 0.2 percent to $56.91 a barrel.

Today’s Inspiration

Sincere Faith

by Joyce Meyer – posted April 02, 2015

Whereas the object and purpose of our instruction and charge is love, which springs from pure heart and a gold (clear) conscience and sincere (unfeigned) faith. 1 Timothy 1:5

We do not want to be childish in our faith or in our praying; we want to be childlike. The Lord does not want us to complicate our relationship with Him. He searches for sincere hearts, because He is a God of hearts. He wants us to pray in faith, which is not an emotion, but a spiritual force that impacts the unseen realm. God is a god of order, but not a God of rules and regulations and laws; and He does not want us to wear ourselves out trying to pray long, drawn-out prayers that are not Spirit-led or that follow a formula and require a certain posture. That would be legalistic and it always takes the life of our relationship with God. The Spirit makes alive, but the law kills (see 2 Corinthians 3:6).

When we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, our communication with God will be filled with life. We will have no need to watch the clock making sure we put the right amount of time in, as many people do. When we approach talking and listening to God as an obligation and a work of our own flesh, five minutes can seem live an hour, but when our prayer is energized by the Holy Spirit, an hour can seem like five minutes. I like to pray and fellowship with God until I feel full and content. Try to relax and enjoy your time with God and it will be very rewarding.

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