Oil price of USD 50 no longer a crisis

Eldfisk A, Showing signs of being in use for many years in the North sea. Photo: ConocoPhillips Norway

Oil price of USD 50 no longer a crisis for the industry leaders

The prospect of an oil price of around USD 50 a barrel no longer spells doomsday for the world’s major oil producers.

 

The half-yearly reports show that the big companies, through cost cuts, manage to secure a very healthy profit, even with oil prices at the current level. The five major players – BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total – show a net profit totaling USD 23 billion in the period.

The results show that they either increased their profits or converted losses to profits, a somewhat different situation than at the same time last year.

Except for ExxonMobil, they all have profited from an increase in production compared to the same period in 2016. More importantly for the bottom line is that all of them profited from increased prices; this as a result of OPEC and Russia agreeing on limiting their production.

Geared to handle fluctuations

The average price for the industry standard quality, Brent crude, was USD 51.7 in the first half of the year; significantly up from USD 39.8 in the same period last year.

Even if profits are a world away from what the companies raked in when the oil prices three years ago was at USD 100 or more a barrel, the figures reveal that the major companies can make big bucks even if prices remain at current levels. Many believe that will be the case onwards.

– The conditions are tough, and will probably remains so for a time. We are however now geared to handling price fluctuations, says BP’s chief executive, Bob Dudley.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today