AI likely to weigh on oil prices over the next decade, Goldman says
Sept 3 (Reuters) -Artificial intelligence could hurt oil prices over the next decade by boosting supply by potentially reducing costs via improved logistics and increasing the amount of profitably recoverable resources, Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
The impact of AI on energy and metals has mostly focused on the demand side given the expected boost to power demand.
Negative impact on oil prices could decrease incomes of producers like the members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+.
KEY QUOTES
"AI could potentially reduce costs via improved logistics and resource allocation ... resulting in a $5/bbl fall in the marginal incentive price, assuming a 25% productivity gain observed for early AI adopters," Goldman Sachs said in a note.
Goldman expects a modest potential AI boost to oil demand compared to demand impact to power and natural gas over the next 10 years.
"We believe that AI would likely be a modest net negative to oil prices in the medium-to-long term as the negative impact from the cost curve (c.-$5/bbl) - oil's long-term anchor - would likely outweigh the demand boost (c.+$2/bbl)," Goldman said.
BY THE NUMBERS
According to Goldman Sachs' estimates, about 30% of the costs of a new shale well could potentially be reduced by AI. Additionally, an AI-induced 10% to 20% increase in the low recovery factors of U.S. shale could boost oil reserves by 8% to 20% (10-30 billion barrels).
CONTEXT
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $3.51, or 4.5%, to $74.02 a barrel, the lowest level since December. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 futures were down $2.97, or 4.1%, at $70.58 - their lowest price since January. O/R
U.S. technology companies are pursuing energy assets held by bitcoin miners to secure a shrinking supply of electricity for their rapidly expanding artificial intelligence and cloud computing data centers.
Reporting by Anmol Choubey, Brijesh Patel and Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.