Energy crisis as early as 2016

North American unconventionals (oil sands, shale and other tight formations) have been almost all of net global supply growth since 2005. If unconventional growth grinds to zero and conventional growth is falling outright, the supply side heading into 2016 looks highly compromised. At today's oil price, only the "Sweet Spots" in the North American Shale Plays and the Canadian Oil Sands generate decent financial returns to justify the massive capital requirements needed to continue development. Global deepwater exploration is rapidly coming to a halt.

Were demand growth muted, this might not matter. Demand for liquid fuels goes up year-after-year. It even increased in 2008 during the "Great Recession" and ramped up sharply during 2009 and 2010 despite a sluggish global economy. Low fuel prices are increasing demand today and my guess is that, with U.S. GDP growth now forecast at 5% in 2015, we could see demand for fuels increase by close to 1.5 million barrels per day this year. The current IEA forecast is for oil demand to increase by 900,000 bpd in 2015.

If this plays out, the oil markets will be heading into a significant squeeze in the first half of 2016.

The last extended period of low oil prices was 1985 to 1990. In 1985, when oil prices collapsed similar to what's happening now, the world had 13 million bpd of spare capacity, with 7 million bpd in Saudi Arabia alone. OPEC was well-positioned to comfortably meet any increase in demand.

Today, just about all of the world's discretionary spare capacity resides in Saudi Arabia and amounts to an estimate 2 million bpd. Lou Powers, an EPG member and author of "The World Energy Dilemma," has said that Saudi Arabia will have difficulty maintaining production at over 10 million bpd for an extended period. If we do swing to a supply shortage, Saudi Arabia may find itself in the position of needing to run the taps full out for much of 2016. In such an event, the world will be headed right back into an oil shock and we will see much higher oil prices than $100/bbl.

Low oil prices will hurt the unhedged upstream companies, but they will hurt the oilfield services sector the most. I'm expecting the onshore active rig count to drop by 30% by mid-2015. Oil price will need to firm up for several months before the upstream companies commit to higher spending levels. That said, the high quality drillers like Helmerich & Payne (HP), Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) and Precision Drilling Corp. (PDS) will be fine since a lot of their high end rigs will keep working on long-term contracts. By 2016, they will have gained market share.

Remember, North America and deepwater are the only places with meaningful production upside. If crude oil prices move below $60/bbl and stay there for even six months it could prove catastrophic to non-OPEC supply. At some point, OPEC action may become necessary.

"But perhaps not by the Saudis. Russia's position is comparable to Saudi Arabia's. Either could cut production by meaningful quantity, but the Russians need the incremental revenue more. Saudi Arabia would be right to argue that any calls for production cuts should be directed to Moscow. OPEC could cut production to prop up prices and increase revenues. But for now, a better strategy (for Saudi Arabia) would be to hang back, deflect criticism, and let events play out. If the Russians are thinking clearly, Moscow will cut first." - Steven Kopits the managing director of Princeton Energy Advisors.

The best news for all of us is that Iran may be quite willing to put an end to their nuclear enrichment program a few months from now. I believe this is the real reason for what Saudi Arabia is doing.

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