The U.S. could overtake Saudi Arabia in the global oil market.

Dimanche 1 Juillet 2012

According to experts banks Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, the United States of America could become one of the major world oil exporters ahead of schedule.
The U.S. could overtake Saudi Arabia in the global oil market.
America has always been an oil producer but extracting  the oil has always been highly labour intensive, however this will change in the future due to advances in technology which could alter the strategic balance of oil supplies by- 2018.

Increased investment in research on oil and gas production in America is starting to yield results, as well as in Canada and the Gulf of MexicoThe major world producers Saudi Arabia for oil and Russia for gas are likely to see their production level off, the reports of Goldman Sachs and Citigroup say according to an article by  Reghis Rabah in El Watan.

New exploration techniques in Texas,are being developed successfully. The New York Times, in its issue of 23 of June, notes that the "revolution in production in Texas and across the entire American continent contributes to brraking undeniable soaring crude oil prices due to an aggressive testing strategy and development in the field of research and oil and gas and the U.S. government is encouraging this path.

Optical fibers allow technicians to direct the evolution of drilling by helping them to better appreciate the pressure and thus limit the fracturing fluids. Seismic methods have evolved so much that they can now determine porosity and permeability in real time to prevent the cracking of rocks.

Not so long ago the traps were fractured with thousands of cubic meters of water, sand and chemical gels, today, these wells are fractured in stages with different kinds of balloons and taken to isolate the part gushing from the rock and allow horizontal drilling to better penetrate the deposit. These processes are said to decrease the cost of exploration and production will increase substantially.

According to cables accessed by Wikileaks from US diplomatic staff Saudi Arabia which were analysed by the Guardian,Saudi Arabia cannot  cannot increase its crude production substantially.

These reports by American diplomats suggest that the Kingdom does not have sufficient reserves to present an escalation of prices in the coming years or to meet increasing global demand. The reports said that in In 2009, Saudi Arabia  extracted from its soil 9.7 million barrels per day (mb / d) or 12% of world production. In 2005, it was able to hit a record 11.1 mb / d.All indications are that the situation has changed and that Saudi Arabia will no longer have the same role and the same influence on the oil market developments.

The United States first began drilling operations for Shale gas in 1821 and are now returning to shale gas extraction in earnest. The article suggests that Qatar's massive diversification of its investments is in part a reaction to this situation. America is seeking to develop shale gas operations globally and is keen to work with Algeria using its technical expertise. The article suggests that Algeria needs to strengthen its relations as a producer of natural gas with Europe which it is doing,stressing its proximity and reliability over Qatar and Russia. Algeria's long term  contracts expire in 2018. The US is aiming to lower the price for oil and gas and to sell their expertise abroad. The prospect of increased Shale oil and gas production could be a game changer.

The combination of hydraulic drilling and fracking using high pressure fluids to break up rock and increase the flow of oil and gas is a revoltionary concept which could facilitate increased productionand bring down oil and gas prices by accessing oil buried deep in Shale. and also assisting in deep sea oil extraction. However an article in Foreign Policy says that America will never try to restrict oil supplies as Saudi Arabia does for political reasons. At the moment America produces 6 million barrels per day and Saudi Arabia 10 million barrels per day. An increase in production in America is entirely possible but it will be very costly. Each offshore facility costs around US$100 million.






Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/The-U-S-could-o...

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