I have known oil industry expert Daniel Yergin since working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1970s. Yergin attended our hearings on OPEC’s quadrupling the oil price and then turned out readable versions of the revelations, forecasts, and strategies the Senators had extracted from their witnesses. My then-boss, Sen. Clifford P. Case, R-NJ, called Yergin a “terrible simplificateur.”
Dan Yergin is still at it. This week, he managed to be quoted at the top of the financial second section of the Financial Times saying: “the era of OPEC as a decisive force in the world economy is over. It is clearly a very divided organisation.”
Then he went on to say that he expects the price of oil to rebound despite increased Iranian output. “A lot of storage is filled up but we’re not at that point where there’s no place to put the oil and so I think this period will be the bottom.”
He added: “in the second half of this year or early next year you’ll see the market more in balance.” Dan is once again hedging his bets. Last week oil rose over 5%.
Sen. Case was quoting 19th century Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt’s comment on the failure of historians to properly understand how closely the Middle Ages linked to the Renaissance. Like the senator, Burckhardt was the son of a Calvinist dominie.
Energy Patch News
*Veresen (FCGYF) announced that Jordan Cove Energy Project and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline companies have submitted to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a request for rehearing of FERC’s order issued on March 11 denying their applications for authorization to construct and operate the Jordan Cove LNG terminal in Oregon.
Veresen and PCGP have made several agreements demonstrating significant commercial support for the project and to purchase of at least 3 mn tonnes/yr natural gas liquefaction capacity, representing at least 50% of the project’s initial design capacity. Moreover, PCGP recently executed natural gas transportation service precedent agreements with Macquarie Energy LLC, Avista, and JCEP, which in aggregate represent more than 75% of the rated capacity of the pipeline subject to customary conditions. Avista is a local distributor serving communities along the pipeline.The other two TSPAs should facilitate gas transport to the Jordan Cove LNG terminal.
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