PE Outlook 2019: A year of turbulence
The mood music at year-end 2018 was increasingly gloomy, as economic and political factors spook oil and gas markets
Oil prices rose - then sank. President Trump was true to his word and pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear agreement. Major oil producers Brazil and Mexico elected new presidents, both of a populist persuasion (though cut from rather different political cloths). Saudi Arabia found itself caught up in a diplomatic embarrassment, following the murder of the prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Democrats retook Congress in the US mid-term elections, and the US broke records, pumping more than 11mn barrels a day of crude. Britain continued to torture itself over Brexit, and Trump kickstarted a trade war with China. Meanwhile, Venezuela's oil production collapsed as the troubled Latin
Also in this section
27 March 2024
Oil producers have to untangle the increasingly complicated relationship with their natural resources
26 March 2024
Strategic stocks have become as much a market management tool as a security of supply buffer, and this new tactic is likely to continue beyond the next election
25 March 2024
Low carbon intensity and sizeable projects such as Johan Castberg coming onstream in late 2024 suggest a robust outlook at least until 2030
22 March 2024
And the outlook for the country’s upstream appears to have improved following legal setbacks in 2023