From 2014 to 2040, we see global demand for energy rising by 25 percent. This increase is equivalent to the total energy used in North America and Latin America today.

"Demand will grow, as it has already started in 2015, and there will be a period not far into the future (when) demand will catch up with supply,"

"The practice of filling the market with cheap oil at any cost is wrong -- half a year or a year later it could be sold at twice as high," Leonid Fedun, vice-president of Lukoil, Russia's second largest oil producer, was quoted as saying.

The economy will shrink 1.5 percent this year, Alfa Bank’s Natalia Orlova said in a report on Monday, cutting her previous forecast for an expansion of 0.3 percent.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents the industry, forecast that it would invest C$42bn (US$29.5bn) this year, 13 per cent less than last year and 48 per cent less than in 2014. That is a steeper decline than investment in oil and gas production worldwide, which is expected to drop by 40 per cent over 2014-16, according to Wood Mackenzie, the energy research company.

U.S. stocks are rising Friday as energy prices continue to climb and give a boost to energy companies. A global rally lifted stocks in Asia and Europe. After two days of gains, major indexes in the U.S. are set to rise for the first week in the last four.

The February crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1.81 to settle at $29.53/bbl on Jan. 21. The March contract was up $1.14 to settle at $30.83/bbl. The NYMEX natural gas contract for February gained 2¢ to a rounded $2.14/MMbtu. The Henry Hub gas price was $2.20/MMbtu on Jan. 21, up 6¢.

Therefore, oil prices will rise once more people study the long-term dynamics of oil markets instead of trading on and exploiting the short term news. On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, WTI for delivery in February 2017 closed at US$37.08 a barrel on January 19, 23% higher than the market closing price for the day.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $30.64 a barrel at 0634 GMT, up $1.11 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $1.36 to $30.61 a barrel. At one point, Brent prices reached $31.10 a barrel and Nymex rose as high as to $31.04 a barrel.

Iran is in a good position to deliver on its target to raise oil output by 500,000 b/d within six weeks and by a further 500,000 b/d six months after that.

Flint Hills Resources LLC, the refining arm of billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch’s industrial empire, said it offered to pay $1.50 a barrel Friday for North Dakota Sour, a high-sulfur grade of crude, according to a corrected list of prices posted on its website Monday. It had previously posted a price of -$0.50. The crude is down from $13.50 a barrel a year ago and $47.60 in January 2014.

In a stark assessment of the oil market, the International Energy Agency warned of an oil overhang of at least 1m barrels a day for a third consecutive year in 2016.

The impact is not confined to the United States. Oil and gas projects around the world worth $380 billion have been postponed or canceled since 2014.

“I am optimistic about the future, the return of stability to the global oil markets, the improvement of prices and the cooperation among the major producing countries,” al-Naimi said. “Market forces as well as the cooperation among producing nations always lead to the restoration of stability. This, however, takes some time.”

Although analysts are making cautious predictions in the short term, the EIA also indicates that prices in 2017 may be as high as $3.22/MMBtu, representing a major leap in prices for next year.