The Houston offices of OGJ are moving this week. After 10 years at 1700 West Loop South, this staff and all other PennWell employees in Houston will relocate. The “old” office is abuzz with extra activity while staffs continue to meet daily and weekly deadlines.
The new office is across the freeway a couple of blocks away, but the proximity doesn’t ease the transition. Or the packing. So much material, like conference proceedings, notes, and publications, can accumulate in a decade.
The last time OGJ’s Houston staff relocated offices, this editor had only been on board for slightly more than a year, and so the task of packingand deciding what to throw outwas simpler. There wasn’t as much stuff on the shelves.
But now the contents of my bookcases and filing cabinets hadn’t been properly culled in a while. So once the process began, it was a dusty trip back into the oil and gas statistical world. There were issues of world energy forecasts from various agencies, some dating back to, yes, 1997.
Many of the regular publications, such as IEA’s Monthly Oil Market Report, EIA’s Natural Gas Monthly, and API’s Quarterly Well Completion Report, are no longer available in print. Instead, they are now only available to download or access online. This helps when moving offices.
The large orange trash bin conveniently located near my office space soon began to look like the purging of an energy economist’s library. Following about an hour’s worth of expunging, a couple of bookshelves looked barer. Hopefully much of this discarded material will be recycled.
Milestones
OGJ celebrated 100 years in print while we occupied this office. That was during 2002.
Since 1997, the oil and gas markets have seen volatility, of course. That year, the average front-month futures price of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was $20.59/bbl. The following year the average sank to $14.42/bbl.
Last month, the closing price for crude on the NYMEX reached as high as $98.18/bbl. And for 2007, the front-month closing price will average about $71/bbl.
Regular unleaded motor gasoline pump prices averaged $1.23/gal during 1997, and this year the average will be about $2.78/gal.
Worldwide demand for crude oil has climbed more than 15% in the past decade. According to IEA, demand averaged 73.6 million b/d 10 years ago and will average 85.7 million b/d this year.
Looking ahead
This time of year not only brings this office move for OGJ, it also brings forecasts for 2008. The recent climb to near-$100/bbl for crude brought a lot of attention to such predictions for oil supplies and demand. How much demand growth we can expect depends on assumptions about the health of the economy. Much speculation is swirling.
OGJ will publish its short-term forecast next month. After we’re settled in our new space, we will have a clearer view to the future.
Our new physical and mailing address will be 1455 West Loop South, Suite 400, Houston, TX 77027. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses are unchanged.
