The signs of oil shortages have been appearing for months now. The OPEC cut-backs, increased demand from Asia, the shrinking US reserves and now increased refinery consumption especially in the US. US refineries currently process a massive 17.3 million barrels a day. That figure is up 620 000 on 2016. We’ve already heard dramatic predictions like these:
Independent Scotland’s oil wealth is assured as Aramco chief predicts huge shortages
Scotland’s Treasury to benefit from ‘Oil Price Shock In 2020’
See this from Reuters in Oil and Gas People:
‘The prospective reductions have left refiners scrambling to find replacement crude which is tightening the physical market for all grades…..The physical crude market now looks significantly tighter than it did in the first half of June, which has coincided with a renewed rise in bullish hedge fund positions and a modest rise in spot prices.’
Reuters were predicting this as early as last December:
‘Brent curve signals oil tanks will start emptying in second half of 2017’.
Talking-up Scotland 
This may be of interest-https://infographic.statista.com/normal/chartoftheday_10498_oil_prices_per_barrel_needed_for_opec_countries_to_balance_their_budgets_n.jpg
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Thanks Anne
Interesting
wonder what the figure is for UK
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I’ve been in correspondence with someone who tells me that the Tories have made Oil worthless to the Economy by failing to tax it “…..not taxing the wholesale sales of Oil and by not taxing the Oil Companies profits in any useful way .” So I’m genuinely left wondering if it matters what the price is ?
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Good point
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Why would the Tories make Oil worthless to the economy.? Doesn’t the country need all the Tax receipts it can get. They need planes for the carriers and Subs to build for the missiles.
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Just to spite us?
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I find the whole thing about the Tories being happy to see the oil industry ruined quite perplexing. I read that George Osborne’s policies – keeping the tax rate very high – during the crash was a strange thing to do, that normally the chancellor would vary the rate depending in fluctuating old prices, and a big dip like that would normally mean they lower the rate immediately to help keep companies afloat. The implication was that the 6-month delay in dropping the tax rate, which I believe was particularly high anyway, actually caused more damage than the crash itself. I am going by memory here, so this may be completely inaccurate!
Perhaps they are just relying on the weapons industry more heavily to make their profits.
The Tories are just scamming us left right and centre, to keep us stuck between a rock and a hard place. Bunch of scunners. They are trying to make the oil look worthless, it reinforces the notion, about the only one they have in their unionist mind, that we need them to survive. Which is perhaps also why funding for windfarms were cut by the UK government – getting too successful there too. I really just hope that more and more people are realising every day that we are far far better off making these decisions ourself, for ourselves, by ourselves, and not by leaving it to a vindictive neighbour.
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