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Tuesday August 4, 2015

// August 4th, 2015 // Daily News

As oil falls below $50, analysts eye ‘mid-price’ era

Reuters

A slump in oil below $50 a barrel—a level it has held above for most of the past decade—has raised the prospect of a new era of lower prices, although a return to super-cheap oil seems unlikely.
Prices below $50 for the two crude oil benchmarks, North Sea Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate, were the norm prior to 2005. Brent averaged just $18.37 a barrel in the 1990s, WTI $19.70 a barrel, and both only broke above $50 for the first time in late 2004.
China’s explosive economic growth over the past decade, coupled with flatlining global output, saw Brent soar above $140 in 2008 and it has spent more than 90 percent of the past decade above the $50 mark.
But producers globally, in particular U.S. shale drillers, are now pumping record amounts of oil just as China’s growth looks set to steady at lower levels, while alternative energy sources and better efficiency are denting demand in the developed world.
Suggestions that cheap oil will cure itself by spurring demand may fail to play out as consumers look to save rather than spend.
And a likely deal to lift sanctions on Iran and allow its huge oil reserves to return to markets, has led many analysts to trim their oil price forecasts to reflect deepening oversupply.
BMI Research, a subsidiary of Fitch Ratings, said on Tuesday that a strong U.S. dollar, China’s weakening economy and the prospect of rising Iranian oil exports would keep downward pressure on prices in the coming months.
“A retest of Brent crude’s 2015 low around $45 per barrel looks inevitable given current ample market supply and intensifying bearish market sentiment toward prices,” the firm said in a note to clients.
Read MoreBattered oil giant has ‘difficult’ future: Analyst
But while analysts say a return to extremely high prices of $100 a barrel or more is unlikely any time soon, barring a sudden production crash, they also don’t expect a return to super-cheap oil, effectively opening up a third, mid-priced era of prices.

Today’s Inspiration

Choose Peace and Joy Instead of Dread

by Joyce Meyer – posted August 04, 2015

Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
– Deuteronomy 1:29

Probably one of the greatest ways we show our trust in God is by living life one day at a time. We prove our confidence in Him by enjoying today and not letting the concern of tomorrow interfere. It made a big change in my life when I began to gain insight from the Holy Spirit on this problem of dreading things. This truth about living one day at a time greatly increased my peace and joy, and it will do the same thing for you.

I learned that it really was not the event I was facing that was so bad—it was dreading it that made it bad. Our attitudes do make all the difference in the world. Learn to approach life with an “I can do whatever I need to do through Christ” attitude. Don’t say that you hate things like driving to work in traffic, going to the grocery store, cleaning the house, doing laundry, changing the oil in the car, or cutting the grass. These chores are all part of life, and it is useless to dread them.

Don’t let the events of life dictate your level of joy. It is the joy of the Lord that is your strength. Be joyful that you are going to heaven; be grateful that you have someone who always loves you, no matter what. Look at and concentrate on what you do have, not what you don’t have.

Everyone has to attend to some unpleasant details in life. Don’t dread them, but learn how valuable God’s peace is in those circumstances.

Some things are certainly more naturally enjoyable and easier to do than others, but that does not mean we cannot purposely choose to enjoy the other less enjoyable tasks. We can choose to have attitudes of joy and peace. Usually, if we don’t feel like doing something, we automatically assume we cannot enjoy it or have peace during that time, but that is a deception. We grow spiritually when we do difficult things with a good attitude.

Trust in Him Dreading things does not glorify God. Show your trust in Him by facing each day with a good attitude.