The first week of January 2021 shows some positive signs for the industry.
Today, Brent crude jumped 4.9% to $53.60 per barrel.
Additionally, U.S. crude climbed 4.9% to $49.93 after briefly topping $50 today on news that Saudi Arabia announced a surprise output cut at the OPEC+ meeting.
Saudi "New Years Present" for WTI
According to Investor.com, Saudi Arabia "shocked" oil markets with a voluntary 1-million-barrel-per-day output cut.
Russia's deputy prime minister and energy minister Alexander Novak called it a "great New Year present for the whole oil industry."
The announcement came after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries along with Russia and other top nonproducers, together known as OPEC+, agreed to allow a 75,000 bpd combined increase from Russia and Kazakhstan in February and March.
"Year of Recovery" in Canada
North of the border, Oilprice.com reported that Canada’s oil industry expects that 2021 will be the year of recovery from the downturn caused by the pandemic in 2020, with total investments in Canada’s oil sector expected to increase by 12 percent this year compared to last year.
Vice president Ben Brunnen of The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) told Calgary Herald’s Chris Varcoe that an extra $2 billion of investment into the Western Canadian economies & Alberta based Oil Field jobs is a "pretty significant vote of confidence there will be some stability and recovery in energy markets".
The association expected that around 3,000 oil and gas wells would have been drilled in 2020, while the number would increase to around 3,300 oil and gas wells drilled in 2021.
