Crude Oil Price - What are the trends?

I wrote my first article on LinkedIn on January 17, 2015, titled:

Oil Crisis! Is it really a surprise?

It was about the battle between OPEC producers and the producers of the unconventional shale oil in the US, which led to a rupture in the O & G industry and resulted in massive lay-offs and sharp drop in the price of the barrel of crude oil.

Opening of the taps, in my view proved to be a misguided strategy, causing profound impacts on the economy of many countries like Saudi Arabia and its OPEC partners.

 Below $ 50, the production of shale oil is greatly impaired, or rather it is rendered unfeasible.

Trying to defend the reserve of their markets, they embraced the lose-lose trading style, instead of studying a balanced solution and valuing the win-win strategy.

(*) Scroll down to see Brent and WTI , 10 Year Daily Chart trends!

During my career I've always worked in three industries, HVAC-R, Shipbuilding and Oil & Gas.

I change my hat whenever necessary, to try get away from major downturns. 

From time to time, I am forced to go back "to the Mom's house," which for me is the HVAC-R industry.

Of course, the better and very attractive daily rates are paid at O&G industry when crude is on the rise and is usually nearly twice the daily rate paid in the HVAC-R industry. 

The shipbuilding generally follows this movement as new support vessels and production platforms are necessary in order to ensure the offshore operations.

Many people who work in the O & G industry, do not know the difference between Brent and WTI crude.

So, here it goes:

Basically, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is the oil traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and refers to the product extracted mainly in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Brent oil is traded on the London Stock Exchange, with reference to both the oil extracted in the North Sea and the East.

This seesaw in the price of crude oil, what strikes our attention in the daily news is the price of Brent crude oil.

Brent Crude Oil Prices - 10 Year Daily Chart (www.macrotrends.net)

(*) The current price of BRENT crude oil as of November 03, 2017 is $61.67 per barrel.

WTI Crude Oil Prices - 10 Year Daily Chart (www.macrotrends.net)

(*) The current price of WTI crude oil as of November 03, 2017 is $55.30 per barrel.

The demand for the ideal world is constant, and the nice now, is to work with clean energy, or renewable energies (solar and wind).

But unfortunately, no room for everybody!

Just one detail, renewable energy still covers very little of the demand required and the cost of production of such energy is still very high.

The water begins to drain, the big rivers and waterfalls are drying rapidly, soon the energy coming from the waters will be lacking.

Nuclear energy is efficient, but it produces tons of atomic waste.

The power plants where the fuel is coal are being phased out as they are highly polluting, but many are still in operation.

But the biggest pressure is against the O & G industry, but in my point of view it will take a long time to be discontinued, because when the price is fair and well balanced, lets say $ 80.00 a barrel, thousands of jobs will be recovered and thousands of others will be created.

As said recently, OPEC members are reportedly forming a consensus around extending their production cutting deal with other crude exporters at least by nine months.

Despite this crisis in the O & G sector, we need to be prepared, because with this slight improvement in the price of the barrel, good job offers are starting to appear more frequently.

Have you prepared your hard hat to return to the offshore O & G industry?

Mine is already in hand, ready to wear on my head!

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(*) It's about how the price change of crude oil affects your job opportunities.