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However, outside of these large-scale multiyear offshore projects, the queue of new
oil fields is starting to be cleared out.
By 2017, the supply/depletion balance will go deeper into negative territory.
Depletion will exceed new sources of production by around 1.2 mb/d before
widening even further in 2018 and 2019.
A few months ago, Wood Mackenzie estimated that around $380 billion in planned
oil projects had been put on ice due to the crash in oil prices.
Wood Mackenzie says that between 2007 and 2013, the oil industry greenlighted
about 40 large oil projects on average each year. That figure plunged to fewer than
10 in 2015.
The coming supply crunch stands in sharp contrast to the short-term picture.
The EIA reported on March 23 that crude oil storage levels once again increased,
surging by 9.4 million barrels last week to break yet another record.
Total inventories in the U.S. now stand at 532.5 million barrels.
Record high storage levels, which continue to climb, are signs of short-term
oversupply. The IEA expects supply to continue to outstrip demand by about 1.5
mb/d until later this year. Oil storage levels will have to fall to more normal levels
before oil prices can rise substantially.
But the Rystad Energy figures show that the supply-demand balance could quickly
swing back in the other direction as upstream investment has screeched to a halt.
As soon as later this year, or perhaps in 2017, demand could catch up to supply.
Inventories will begin falling quickly and prices will start to rise.
However, since supply is inelastic in the short run, the industry may struggle to
satisfy demand at stable prices.
The oil markets have always suffered from booms and busts, and this is just more
of the same. The current bust is sowing the seeds of the next boom.
Of course, U.S. shale has demonstrated its ability to ramp up quickly, and those
short lead times could allow new supply to come online as prices rise.
But it remains to be seen if U.S. shale, more or less on its own in the short run, can
meet rising demand in 2017 and 2018 as conventional oil drilling remains on the
sidelines.