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Note on the Current Global Oil Market
Saudi Arabia Oil Minister U.S. Oil Production Energy prices could go up at the same time that energy production could continue to decrease, although not as much as simple supply/demand forecasts would expect (see prior post). Crude oil prices would have to rise from current $35/barrel level to at least $50/barrel to stabilize production and…
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Saudi Arabia, Oil and Geopolitics
Saudi Oil Minister Introduction: The Fall in Oil Prices in 2015 Crude oil prices temporarily rose because Saudi Arabia signaled that it would cooperate with OPEC and non-OPEC producers to “stabilize” oil prices. Nothing specific was mentioned. At the current price and for political reasons, it is unlikely Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf allies…
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Energy and Geopolitics II: The World ex-United States
Middle East Oil Wells OVERVIEW Outside of the United States and Canada, most of the world’s oil and natural gas is owned and produced by governments or government-dominated companies with minority shareholders. Two examples of the latter, public companies with stockholders, are Petrobras in Brazil and Gazprom in Russia. But government officials, especially the president,…
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Ukraine and Russia
Russian T-72 Tank Seen in Ukraine HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Most of what is now Ukraine came under Russian control in the 1700s, due to the expansionist policies of Catherine the Great. Part of western Ukraine (Galicia) was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the collapse of the Romanov regime in 1917 and Austria-Hungary in…
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Corporate Strategies: Organizational Change in the Future
William Gibson: Neuromancer (I wrote this in 2008 as a memo in response to an adult student’s question about what I thought of the book Fifth Discipline. While still somewhat unrealistic – organizations are still run by managers who lack the self-confidence to ask others for advice and ideas – I think the current trends…
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The Government Bond Market
Janet in Wonderland Anyone who believes that financial markets are rational is not looking at the current government bond markets. The U.S. 10-year government bond is paying around 2.5%. Believe it or not, the 10-year Spanish government bond is paying less. The German 10-year government bond is paying a little over 1%, less than a…