Liferep.net

Monday December 14, 2015

// December 9th, 2015 // Daily News

Oil prices may go even lower in 2016: IEA’s Birol
Katy Barnato
CNBC.com

Oil prices pared some of their losses on Wednesday after falling to near seven-year lows earlier in the week, but those hoping for a rebound next year may be disappointed.
Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told CNBC that crude prices could continue to fall in 2016, presenting a challenge to governments that are trying to encourage the use of relatively expensive sustainable energy.
“When we look at 2016, I don’t see many reasons why we can see upward pressure on the prices… Demand is weaker and we may well see Iran come back (to the market) and there will be a lot of oil,” Birol said, talking from the sidelines of the COP21 climate conference in Paris.
“So 2016 may well be another year with lower prices and this will have implications of course for investments in the oil sector.”
Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices fell below $40 per barrel this week for the first time since early 2009. Both types of oil rallied on Wednesday, but WTI prices remained below $40, trading at just over $38. Brent traded at around $40.75 per barrel.
Oil prices have tumbled since June last year due to supply and demand imbalances. U.S. shale gas production has risen and OPEC has maintained output, while demand from China, a massive consumer of commodities, has waned.
This week’s renewed slump was precipitated when OPEC once again failed to cut production quotas, after meeting last Friday.
Birol said that IEA estimates indicated that investment in the oil industry fell by more by 20 percent in 2015 – the steepest decline in history. A further decline is seen in 2016.
“We have never seen in the last 30 years, oil investment declining for two years in a row and this will have consequences for the markets in the next few years to come,” he told CNBC.

Today’s Inspiration

Power for Living

by Joyce Meyer – posted December 09, 2015

So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
—James 4:7

It is not going to do us one bit of good to try to resist the devil if we are not going to submit to God, because the power to resist the devil is found in submitting to God. If you want to keep Satan under your feet, you have to walk in obedience. Don’t have any known disobedience, any purposeful disobedience in your life.

Do I ever disobey God? Yes, but I don’t do it on purpose. I might lose my temper and say something that I shouldn’t. But as soon as God starts dealing with me about it, I do what He says. I have a reverential fear of God in my life, and I think we need a lot more of that. I believe that God is God, and I believe He means business. If He tells me to do something, He means it, and when He tells me not to do something, He means it. Yes, we live under grace, but grace is not an excuse to sin; grace is the power to live a holy life. Disobedience is one of Satan’s favorite entrances by which to gradually draw us into a web of sin that is devastating for us in the end.

Lord, I know that there is power for living today as I submit my life to You. Thank You for the grace that empowers me to walk in obedience. Amen.