The industry numbers for the 3rd quarter are not surprising, but still alarming to some extent. To be expected, oil production is up and so are exports. The only problem is that inventories are up too. Supply for hydrocarbons around the world is tremendous.
The price of West Texas Intermediate is currently in the low $50s. This is despite the fact that the world has seen several serious incidents in the Persian Gulf region. The reason why the price of oil has not surged to much higher numbers if because the supply of energy in the world is just so abundant.
Everyone is sitting around waiting for the price of oil to hit $70 so that the energy companies can start spending on expansions, revamps, retrofits, and upgrades. I do not think it is going to happen. Things still wear out and break down. Looks like the energy companies will have to do maintenance anyway in 2020, even with $50 oil.
