August 2019

The worldwide rig count for July 2019 was 2,238, up 17 from the 2,221 counted in June 2019, and down 13 from the 2,251 counted in July 2018.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 11 cents, or nearly 2%, at 0823 GMT to set a fresh seven-month low. Prices have lost more than 20% since hitting their 2019 peak in April. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were flat at $53.63.

Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $64 per barrel (b) in July, almost unchanged from the average in June 2019 but $10/b lower than the price in July of last year. EIA forecasts Brent spot prices will average $64/b in the second half of 2019 and $65/b in 2020. The forecast of stable crude oil prices is the result of EIA’s expectations of a relatively balanced global oil market. EIA forecasts global oil inventories will increase by 0.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2019 and 0.3 million b/d in 2020.

OPEC saw output slide to 29.88 million b/d last month, a fall of 210,000 b/d from June, despite output gains by six of its members

Iraq's crude oil production in July rose to 4.62 million b/d, the country's State Oil Marketing Organization said late Sunday, its highest monthly output figure since January 2017, according to official data.

Long-term cuts in coal consumption are a key part of China’s energy, environment and climate goals, but the fivefold increase in new mine approvals in the first-half of 2019 suggests China’s targets still provide ample room for shorter-term growth.

Indonesia's natural gas exports, including both pipeline and LNG, are expected to fall to a two-decade low in 2019, marking the furthest it has dropped since peaking in the late 1990s, on the back of depleting gas fields and the lack of new upstream projects.

"The best way to put downward pressure on gas prices remains more gas supply. Eastern Australian gas users have paid a high price for unnecessary, unscientific restrictions on gas development in Victoria, New South Wales and, until recently, the Northern Territory,"

BP and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced that they have agreed to form a new joint venture that will include a retail service station network and aviation fuels business across India. Building on Reliance's existing Indian fuel retailing network and an aviation fuel business, the partners expect the venture to expand rapidly to help meet the country's fast-growing demand for energy and mobility.

"Nuclear energy is the only absolutely stable (and always available) source of electricity without carbon emissions. Therefore, we hear more and more voices, including from environmentalists, who claim that nuclear energy should play a more important role in the future energy mix. Personally, I am certain of this."