User:Ledezmajane/sandbox

Article Evaluation:

-I chose to expand on the already extensive article titled "Shale Gas in the United States."

-I would like to add a section titled Impacts on energy market just below the section titled Economic Impacts

Impact on energy markets:
Up until 2014, OPEC had a major influence on global energy prices. OPEC began losing much of its hold on oil and gas markets due to the boom in U.S shale oil and gas production. OPEC attempted to regain its grip on the market by agreeing to not cut output on November 2014. By flooding the market with supply, OPEC believed it would bring down prices temporarily to halt U.S shale production - which depended on high oil and gas prices to continue it's exploration and exploitation. But technological innovations allowed North American shale drillers to become more efficient and to cut costs associated with drilling. Today, OPEC’s efforts to increase oil prices continue to be offset by increasing U.S. shale oil production. The two major benchmarks for world oil prices, American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and European Brent crude oil were bouncing between $50 and $53 per barrel for WTI, and $55 and $57 per barrel for Brent in early 2017. The relative price consistency is a result of US producers increasing supply when necessary to maintain these low prices. The market may be reaching a new equilibrium in which any significant rise above the current prices could result in massive fracking by US shale producers.

In August 2016, Saudi Arabia announced that its oil exports would be capped at 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd), which is a decline of almost 1 million bpd on average in 2016. These cuts are to continue through March 2018 as part of the larger OPEC deal which attempts to raise oil and gas prices. In January 2018, OPEC members will meet again to decide whether to continue these reductions in oil supply. While Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries may agree to reduce oil production, countries like Libya, Ecuador, and Nigeria (exempt from OPEC cuts) and the US are likely to continue ramping up production to meet global demand. OPEC reductions are not likely to drive up oil prices beyond the $52 per barrel predicted by the U.S Energy Information Administration for 2018.

A post-carbon future envisioned as the only option to prevent an increase in global temperatures and a change in global energy markets are two factors forcing oil and gas based economies to diversify. While the future of Saudi Arabia’s economy is likely to remain heavily tied to oil, the current government has made clear steps to expand investments into other sectors. Mohammed bin Salman, plans to reinvent the economy through his Vision 2030 plan. As part of this vision, the government is pursuing economic reform and diversification in hopes of reducing its oil dependency.