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Hansen: We are facing a new world order in oil

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Statoil is the latest energy company to post a loss in its third quarter earnings. It follows bad news from BP, BG Group and Total. Saxo’s Ole Hansen says there’s a crude reason for these poor results and that's a 'collapse' in the oil price.

He says that after being used to the oil price averaging 110 USD/bbl for the last four years, it's been a shock that crude is trading around 80 - 85 USD/bbl. This has been a contributing factor in why many companies have made large write downs.  For Statoil, Canada was its largest.

Hansen says that decision was made because of the falling price in West Canadian Select (WCS). It's trading around USD 13 less than WTI, bringing the price down to USD 70. He says that makes it difficult for companies like Statoil to make a profit.

Over the last few years, oil supply across the globe has been rising particularly in the US. Although geopolitical risks have offset this, Hansen says that's fading as countries like Libya are now producing oil once more. That, however, is resulting in a supply surplus of around one million barrels a day and is expected to rise further. "It's a new world order that we have to get used to," says Ole. "It's good for consumers but not good for producers."