2015 Oil Prices: U.S. to Emerge as Dominant Player

Business Day: For years, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pulled the strings set the price of oil and controlled the supply. After dictating the course of oil prices for more than 50 years, OPEC is finding its influence diminished.

Right now, OPEC represents about 40 percent of global daily production. The organization still has a say in what the energy market looks like. But for OPEC, oil can no longer be used as either a weapon or as a lever. There is simply too much production arising beyond the control of OPEC.

For 2015, US will emerge as dominant player. OPEC member countries are gradually losing the largest energy market in the world and the irony is that they will soon be competing for the markets that used to be theirs for the taking. Projections from recent happenings reveal that in 2015 the US will start dictating to the market. With the advent in 2015 of large US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the effect is even larger, and with it comes the hastening of OPEC’s decline.

Read more: http://bit.ly/13SjJrm

More industry news:

• Cheniere Second LNG Export Terminal Gets FERC Approval: http://buswk.co/1CTu9pR
• Crude Exports Clarified in Commerce Department Guidelines: http://buswk.co/1D5vdUK
• The Tech Behind the Keystone Pipeline: http://fxn.ws/1zR5IrM
• Editorial: New York’s Fearful Ban on Fracking: http://bit.ly/1D5P1Yd
• Opinion: Advice for Those Developing the Marcellus, From Someone Who Knows: http://bit.ly/1vGqy6M

By Mark Green

Originally posted December 31, 2014

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