Diversify Your Portfolio As Disaster Awaits Oil Industry

By Stanley Ochuko OMADOGHO

For all mono-product economies that depend on oil as a mainstay - Nigeria, Venezuela, etc - and for all individuals who depend solely on oil for their income, here are five reasons why diversifying your portfolio is no longer a mere option but the only lifeline.

1. The Shale Revolution
There was a time it was only a silent whisper, the debilitating effects of the US realizing its ambition to tap into its shale reserves. Today, the US shale oil production has dealt an irreversible blow to oil prices, sending the days of $100 per barrel to the attics of history. Revenues of governments like Venezuela and Nigeria have plummeted. But the US isn't done yet, not by a long shot. The United States, according to the Wall Street Journal, will now vie with Saudi Arabia and Russia for position as the number one oil producer in the world, bringing us to the second alarm signal.

2. US: Fourth-Largest Oil Exporter by 2020
If anyone can tell the cowboys to stop, now is the time. The shale cowboys of Texas are unrelenting in their quest to become OPEC's chief rival. Already, they have turned the US into the de facto swing producers. The implication? The US will buy less and less of Nigeria's oil, perhaps non at all. Nigeria found herself in that scary territory in late 2015 and early 2016 when several tons of Nigerian crude roamed the high seas with no buyers, some stored in ships, others in storage terminals. It was only when US oil production fell by about 600,000 barrels a day from its peak of 9.6 million in 2015 that the US turned its attention back to buying Nigerian crude, some 559,000 barrels a day. When the tide turns again, Nigeria can hope on China and India to keep buying their oil, the same countries Saudi Arabia will be willing to sell their oil to on credit, as they are currently doing with India in what is now a political market. As that wouldn't be prudent planning, the shift to agricultural development and local manufacturing is a no-brainer.

3. Discovery of New Oil Fields
Gone were the good old days when an announcement of new oil discoveries led to wild jubilations. If you want to flood the market with more oil, and lower oil prices even further, be my guest in portfolio diversification. Besides, can one really jubilate over the discovery of monster fields when we are operating in the era of OPEC production cuts, cuts put in place to control oil prices? Even though Nigeria and Iraq are exempt from these cuts, one can only pump that much oil.

4. The Auto Revolution
What in the world is going on? Volvo announced only last week that all new cars launched from 2019 onwards will be partially or completely battery-powered, in what the company called a historic end to building models that only have an internal combustion engine. Between 2019 and 2021, the firm will introduce five 100% electric models. Other major auto makers are in the advanced stages of research into electric-powered cars. When the era of solely combustion engine-powered cars comes to an end, the oil industry as we know it today, will be singing a different song.

5. Upcoming Ban on Petrol and Diesel Cars
Britain will ban the sales of new gasoline and diesel cars starting in 2040 as part of a bid to clean up the country's air. The decision to phase out the internal combustion engine heralds a new era of low-emission technologies, with major implications for the auto industry, society and the environment. India, France, and Norway all want to completely ditch gas and diesel cars in favor of cleaner vehicles. At least 10 other countries have set sales targets for electric cars. Austria, China, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Korea and Spain have set official targets for electric car sales. The United States doesn't have a federal policy as President Trump is only interested in pumping more gas, considering his 'America First' policy, but at least eight states have set out goals.
China, which buys more cars than any other country, is also the largest electric car market. China accounts for more than 40% of the electric cars sold in the world and more than double the number sold in the U.S., according to the IEA.

Putting It All Together
Not just for governments, but for individuals who rely solely on the oil industry, the drums of diversification are beating out loud, the low echos of cost-saving are reverberating off every wall in the cities, the hand writing is on the wall - diversify your portfolio.

Ok

OP, your prayers won't work.

nextprince:
OP, your prayers won't work.

It's not a prayer. It's already happening.

Nice piece OP. The era of depending solely on resources under the ground is fast eroding. innovative and technically empowered mindsets rule the world. For the enlightened few, this write-up is not a wish but a fact we will face in few years.

Ezigboune:
Ok

the fear of ozone layer depletion is the beginning of wisdom

HsLBroker:
the fear of ozone layer decay is the beginning of wisdom

The ozone layer doesn't "decay", it "depletes".


Haba.

nextprince:
OP, your prayers won't work.

How is it a "prayer"?
Can you read at all?

ShyCypher:





The ozone layer doesn't "decay", it "depletes".


Haba.

corrected

Nigeria is some light years so far in the past that the future will always be gone before we get there.

Worse of, we allow these crazy Baldheads to run our collective destiny aground while they amass wealth for them and their children in preparation for the Post-oil era.

See as country dey set ban for 2040 when for Naija here, we know say if APC comot for government in 2019, everything dem do will be reverse

nextprince:
OP, your prayers won't work.

U don't use internet atal... Is all real.

IgboticGirl:


U don't use internet atal... Is all real.

Internet user, abeg come teach me how to use internet.

-Is that not what we, Biafrans, have been praying for - Death to Oil? The issue now is that the electric vehicles are currently expensive, which is not unusual. But help is on the way.
-EU is already investing heavily in solar energy, in fact if you install solar panels in your building today in UK, their govt will start sending you some money back to subsidize your energy bills. This is to encourage more homes to go solar. This is a country with less than 3 months of sunlight per year. And there is currently a huge investment in solar energy in the Greek islands to supply the EU Nations clean energy. You remember that Paris agreement?

Op
may be am oracle, I've predicted the balkanized Nigeria today will be Amalgamated back tomorrow because North will be clean energy reserve[air, solar and Animal dung] of tomorrow as the south is oil reserve today.