Argus Americas Crude Summit

• WTI in the Brent basket: The influence of WTI at Rotterdam is increasing with an uptick in transatlantic US crude flows to northwest Europe. How are trades priced on a WTI basis in northwest Europe? What are the market mechanisms to create a more liquid and transparent price for WTI in the Brent basket? 
  
  
• Asia-Pacific — The core of world crude demand: How are delivered markets developing in northeast Asia and Singapore? Will we see Murban crude emerge as a new marker for Mideast Gulf grades? What will be the role of WTI and ESPO in pricing in Asia-Pacific? 
  
  
• Developments in US Gulf coast onshore and fob markets: International buyers want waterborne fob pricing. How is this developing for WTI, WTL and Bakken at the Gulf coast? What new price assessments are emerging onshore? How are the markets at Midland, Cushing and St James changing? How has an active spot market for Canadian heavy grades at the US Gulf coast evolved? How liquid and transparent is WCS as a price marker compared to Mayan and Venezuelan heavy crude at the US Gulf coast?

• Enjoy an evening networking with the crude oil industry before the start of the conference. Hear from Ms. Marianne Kah as she shares her perspective on increasing demand for alternative transportation fuels and what that might mean for future fossil fuel demand.
  
  
  Fee - $199

• Be a part of this rare opportunity to hear exclusive insight from Secretary Tillerson at the Argus Americas Crude Summit. At a time of dramatic changes in the global crude market, Secretary Tillerson shines a light on geopolitics, US crude exports and global trade flows.

• Where does US shale production go from here? Will the Permian continue growing or will it slow down? How are the independents and oil majors navigating today’s market? How reliant is the upstream on US crude exports to maintain production? 

• Views from the oilfield services industry: How are oilfield service companies coping with falling rig counts? What are they doing to help the upstream market? How are technologies evolving to operate more efficiently and lower production costs?
  
  
• What is the future of upstream investment? What are Wall Street analysts really looking for? As shale-drilling independents face tightening access to capital, how are E&Ps funding projects? Will we see more bankruptcies and consolidation in the shale space? 

Speakers
Mary Kogut Brawley, P.C., Partner, Debt Finance, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Additional speakers to be announced

• Oil market volatility and the global economy: What is the outlook for global GDP growth, fiscal stimulus from national governments and accommodation from central banks? How closely tied are GDP and crude demand in the new economy? What is the role of national strategic petroleum reserves and how are trade disputes impacting the global economy?  
  
  
• Geopolitical constraints and the impact on trade flows: In a world of trade disputes, attacks on oil infrastructure, political sanctions on oil producers, and opposition to crude infrastructure by environmental activists, how can leaders of energy companies plan and execute? How are developments from Iran and Venezuela to Russia, China and the Mideast Gulf likely to affect the US crude export business?
  
  
• Presidential campaign impact: Oil operations from fracking to pipelines have endured criticism from presidential candidates.  Some are courting votes by promising to shut down core elements of the US crude infrastructure. What are the likely campaign scenarios and how do companies manage through political uncertainty? 

Speakers:

• What are the latest forecasts for shale production from key producing regions from the Eagle Ford, Bakken and others in the lower 48 states? What are the logistics options and how do they compare to Permian Basin production and logistics to tidewater?

• Gulf of Mexico resurgence: How much new production will we see from the deepwater Gulf? Will this growth peak soon, or is there a new round of investment in lower tertiary and other opportunities offshore? What is the status of Mexico’s deepwater opening to international investment? How do per-barrel production costs offshore compare to the Permian or Eagle Ford? Does it make sense to use shuttle tankers to move offshore crude straight to export VLCCs? 
  
  
• Reinventing Alaska: Why are oil majors leaving Alaska? What are the production estimates from the maturing fields? How price-sensitive are the output projections? 
  
  
• Canada’s heavy sour barrel at the US Gulf coast: Canada is now the largest foreign supplier of crude to the US Gulf coast. Can that continue in the wake of the Alberta government’s curtailment and lack of progress on pipelines? How fully have Canadian producers embraced crude-by-rail? What grades stay in Padd II and which ones are shipping into the US Gulf coast?   

• Brazil’s booming production: What is the impact of Brazil opening its most prolific oil reserves for private investments? Who is investing, what are the production estimates and where are the destinations for Brazilian crude supply?
  
  
• Colombia rising: In an era of declining Latin American production from Venezuela and Mexico, Colombian crude production is growing. What role will Colombian crude play in the US Gulf coast market? How reliant is Colombia on exports to keep up production?
  
  
• Vaca Muerta shale: What is the potential for developing Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale and how does it compare to US shale production? Is there infrastructure to get to tidewater? Will most of this be marketed in Asia-Pacific? 
  
  
• Guyana Tripletail discovery: How promising is Guyana’s Tripletail discovery and how might it backfill lost volumes from Venezuelan’s decline? Is the sovereignty challenge from Venezuela a problem for development? Who will buy this crude?

• How will dwindling North Sea production and an influx of WTI crude into Rotterdam affect the way the European market trades? 
  
  
• How are rising US crude exports and increasing demand from South Korea and other Asia-Pacific regions impacting WTI in the global crude price?

• Data analytics in crude trading is shifting the competitive landscape for traders and risk managers. Attend this complimentary networking breakfast and understand how the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping market participants enhance their crude oil trading strategy.

• How are US refiners going to achieve healthy crack spreads when US products demand appears to be flat?
  
  
• Where are the new export markets for US refiners? Is Africa emerging as a consumer of US refined products? What is the future of US refined products exports to Mexico?  
  
  
• What are the incentives for refiners to develop new light crude processing capacity? 
  
  
• What market changes have we seen from IMO 2020?
  
  
• How are refiners investing and diversifying their refining business?

Hear from leading refiners from Asia-Pacific, India and Europe and their perspectives on the major factors influencing crude demand in their regions, including:

• Geopolitics and global trade flows: How are US-China trade tensions impacting global trade flows? What is driving South Korea to become the world’s largest buyer of US crude? What other regions are purchasing US crude? Are these trends likely to continue? 
  
  
• IMO 2020 impacts: What refiners are benefitting from IMO regulations and what refiners are in jeopardy of closing because of these changes? Do Bakken and WTL help European refiners comply with IMO bunker specifications more effectively than WTI? Can Saharan Blend or Nigerian light grades be replaced with US light crude?  
  
  
• Arbitrage opportunities: How much demand is there for US crude from northwest Europe and Asia-Pacific refiners? How are international buyers responding to the economics, logistics and quality of US crude supply?
  
  
• GDP growth: What is the forecast for growth in key demand regions and where might we see an economic slowdown or boom? 
  
  
• Environmental regulations: How are other countries responding to environmental regulations? What environmental policies are developing that will impact global crude demand? 

• Can the US handle more than 5mn b/d of exports with our current shallow-water docks? Are offshore buoys the answer? How many of these are likely to be built? 

• Survival strategies for US pipeline owners: Tariffs have been slashed on pipelines from Cushing and the Permian to the Gulf coast. Infrastructure looks over-built. Are joint ventures the answer? Will we see more active marketing operations as the midstream attempts to keep their pipelines full by buying up crude in Midland and Cushing?  
  
  
• Focus on Corpus Christi: Corpus has emerged as the fastest-growing export hub for US crude. What dislocations exist in the infrastructure? What is happening at Taft/Midway? Will we see an actively traded physical pipeline crude market there? How much dredging is needed at Corpus to fully load a VLCC?   
  
  
• Counting on the Caribbean: How do assets like Borco form an important part of the export infrastructure? How can Caribbean facilities assist in moving US crude onto VLCCs? How is Venezuelan crude getting to the market? 

• The emergence of WTI and Bakken markets at the Texas coast have diverted some of the industry’s focus away from St James and the Louisiana coast. But several projects are afoot there, not least of which is the reversal of the giant 1.2mn b/d Capline. What are the latest infrastructure and market developments in Louisiana? What investment is being made and how much US crude supply is flowing into LOOP, the Gulf coast’s only operating VLCC-capable port? 

• How flexible are refiners to switch crude slates?
  
  
• How wide are light/heavy spreads?
  
  
• What are the projections for key refinery margins?

• How might international trade relations unfold from now through the November 2020 US presidential election?
  
  
• What are the global economic concerns? Is market volatility signaling a global recession?
  
  
• What new fuels policies are emerging that will impact refiners and future traditional petroleum demand?
  
  
• What are the one-year, five-year and 10-year outlooks for fossil fuel demand? How are other countries planning for a lower carbon future?