International oil prices rose slightly, and the supply side faced triple uncertainty

International oil prices edged higher on Monday (Jan.
10) as supply disruptions in Kazakhstan and Libya overshadowed concerns
about a rapid rise in global Omicron cases.
Although U.
S.
energy companies continue to add oil and gas platforms in the new year, capacity increases remain difficult, so production is expected to slow
in 2021.

Oil prices rose 5 percent last week, as protests in Kazakhstan disrupted railway operations and hit production in Tengiz, the country's largest oil field; and pipeline maintenance in Libya that forced output to fall sharply to 729,000 b/d from last year's high of 1.
3 million b/d
.

Howie Lee, an economist at OCBC Bank in Singapore, said: "It's all about
supply at the moment.
He was referring to supply disruptions in Libya, Kazakhstan and a decline
in U.
S.
crude inventories.
He also added that Russian production also seems to have reached its ceiling
.
These factors look set to continue to form a bullish oil theme
.

Operator Chevron said on Sunday that Kazakhstan's largest oil company, Tengizchevroil (TCO), was gradually increasing production to normal levels after protests in recent days limited production from the Tengiz field
.

OPEC members produced 70,000 b/d more in December than the previous month, far below the 253,000
b/d cap allowed by the OPEC+ supply deal.
The agreement aims to gradually restore production
cuts in 2020 after demand collapsed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

U.
S.
energy companies continue to add oil and gas platforms
in the new year.
Oil services company Baker Hughes said on Friday (Jan.
7) that the number of U.
S.
oil and gas rigs increased by two in the week ended Jan.
7 to its highest level since April 2020 of 588
.

While rig counts have risen for 17 consecutive months, analysts note that production is still expected to slow
in 2021 as some energy companies continue to focus more on returning money to investors rather than increasing production.

A growing number of energy companies say they plan to increase spending
for the second year in a row in 2022.
Previously, they cut 2019 and 2020.

However, the increase in spending in 2021 was small, with most of it going to complete fields that had previously been drilled and had not yet been completed
.

"The current completion rate is only 25%, which may mean that the rig count will need to continue to recover in 2022 to maintain and improve the existing completion rate
," analysts at EBW Analytics Group said in a note.
”