Category:

Average retail gasoline price is $3.67 per gallon heading into Memorial Day weekend

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of the summer driving season. Leading up to this year’s holiday, the national average retail price for regular gasoline is $3.67 per gallon (gal), as it was this time last year. After increasing 42 cents/gal from early February to $3.71/gal in late April, gasoline prices have fallen modestly in recent weeks as increasing refinery crude oil throughput and higher imports have added supplies to the market. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update The price of retail gasoline reflects both the price of crude oil and the wholesale gasoline crack spread (the difference between the price of wholesale gasoline and the price of crude oil). The price of North Sea Brent crude has averaged $109 per barrel (bbl) thus far in May, $6/bbl (14 cents/gal) more than the May 2013 average. However, lower wholesale gasoline crack spreads compared with […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Michigan gas stocks at end of October to be 18% lower year on year: PSC

The amount of natural gas in Michigan storage facilities at the end of October, the traditional end of the injection season, is expected to be about 18.47% less than was expected to be storage at the same point a year ago, figures from the state Public Service Commission show. The PSC said Friday it estimates there will be 499.4 Bcf in Michigan storage facilities at the end of October and estimates there will be 392 Bcf in storage at the end of December. PSC records show the regulator projected there would be 612.5 Bcf in storage in October 2013 and expected 409.1 Bcf would be in storage at the end of December 2013. Actual figures for the 2013 months were not immediately available from the PSC. Michigan, with its mixed economy, is considered by some to be a bellwether state for northern tier state economies. In its latest forecast […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Baker Hughes: US drilling rig count declines to 1,857

The US drilling rig count dropped 4 units to 1,857 rigs working during the week ended May 23, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. Baker Hughes also recently noted, however, that the US rig count in April reached its highest monthly total since September 2012, tallying 1,835, an increase of 32 units from March and 80 units from April 2013. Land-based rigs fell 8 units to 1,783 as offshore rigs gained 3 units to 60. Rigs drilling in inland waters edged up 1 unit to 14. Oil rigs subtracted 3 units to 1,528 and gas rigs lost 1 unit to 325. Rigs considered unclassified were unchanged from a week ago at 4. Horizontal drilling rigs relinquished 5 units to 1,243. Directional drilling rigs, meanwhile, gave up 2 units to 205 rigs working during the last week. Canada’s rig count edged up a single unit to a total of 154. A 3-unit […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hamm: Bakken Oil Threatened By Safety Missteps

The godfather of North Dakota’s present oil bonanza predicted the state’s crude production will double to 2 million barrels daily by decade’s end but warned industry officials Thursday that future safety missteps would threaten that. "We can’t have any more issues," Harold Hamm, the chairman of Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc., told expo-goers at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck. "It has to be done in an absolute safe manner. It’s going to take all of us." Hamm’s company is the biggest producer and largest leaseholder in the Bakken shale formation, with more than 1 million acres in North Dakota and Montana. The company, which has been drilling in North Dakota for almost 25 years, was among the first to tap a Bakken well in 2004 using horizontal drilling technology. The company was the first to drill a horizontal well in the underlying Three […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Home Counties shale oil survey finds ‘no bonanza’

More than four billion barrels of oil could be present in shale formations lying underneath Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire – although it is doubtful how much of it could ever be recovered through fracking, according to a long-awaited government study. Research by the British Geological Survey assessed the shale oil and gas potential of the Weald Basin, an area stretching underneath the Home Counties, including the South Downs National Park. It concluded that shale formations in the basin could contain between 2.2bn and 8.5bn barrels of oil with a mid-case estimate of 4.4bn – which would be equivalent to approaching a decade of UK consumption. But the geologists, commissioned by the government to assess the potential reserves, played down the prospects for an onshore oil and gas bonanza in the area because of the difficulty of extracting it. Robert Gatliff, director of energy and marine geoscience at the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

No Weaning Europe Off Russian Gas Says Gazprom

Gazprom’s boss said on Friday that Europe will become only more dependent on Russia for its supplies of natural gas in the near future as Asia is absorbing alternative supplies from Middle East countries. Alexei Miller also warned that global competition for Russian output is heating up as this week’s $400-billion gas deal between the Russian energy giant and China’s CNPC showed. "Gazprom was, is and will remain number one supplier to Europe", Mr. Millar said at the St. Petersburg Investment Forum. Mr. Millar’s comments come as Europe reassesses its economic ties with Russia, notably its dependence on the country for nearly a third of gas supplies, as relations have deteriorated with the deepening crisis in Ukraine after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March. Gazprom has benefited from growing global competition for liquefied natural gas, Gazprom’s chief executive said, with the company intent […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.K.’s South England Holds Billions of Barrels of Shale Oil

Shale rock underneath some of the wealthiest counties in southern England may contain billions of barrels of oil, a government report said. The Weald basin, covering counties south of London including Surrey, Sussex and Kent, may have oil in place of as much as 8.6 billion barrels, according to a report published today by the British Geological Survey. It didn’t say how much could be extracted profitably. The U.K.’s current extractable oil reserves are 3.1 billion barrels, data by BP Plc (BP/) show. The report is likely to add to the controversy about drilling for shale oil and gas in the U.K. The government wants to develop the resources to cut energy costs and boost the economy. Opponents say the process of hydraulic fracturing, using high volumes of water, sand and chemicals to drill shale, can damage the environment. Last year, the BGS said the Bowland basin, which extends […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine Prepares for Election as Violence Persists

Ukraine is preparing for a presidential election tomorrow amid persistent clashes between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the country’s easternmost regions. Ukrainians will vote for a new leader to replace Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych, ousted after deadly protests in February. Billionaire businessman Petro Poroshenko leads all candidates. If he fails to garner more than 50 percent backing, a second-round runoff will be held June 15. Preparations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are being disrupted by the fighting. “It’s not easy to prepare and conduct elections when huge financial, political, and military resources are used to disrupt them,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said today in a televised address. “It will be an expression of will of Ukrainians from the west, east, north and south. The choice will be fair and free.” While Russia earlier said the violence threatens to undermine the election’s legitimacy, President Vladimir Putin said he will […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Exxon Deepens Russian Ties as Ukraine Election Approaches

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) extended its partnership with Russia ’s state-controlled oil company even as U.S. and European nations threaten additional sanctions to punish Vladimir Putin’s regime for its actions in Ukraine. Exxon signed the agreement with OAO Rosneft (ROSN) Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin at a forum in St. Petersburg today, extending a pact that involves drilling for crude in the Arctic and Siberia and liquefying natural gas for export in Russia’s Far East, according to a statement on Moscow-based Rosneft’s website. Exxon didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment. Exxon is among American oil producers that rebuffed U.S. State Department pressure to skip the International Economic Forum this week in Putin’s hometown. With at least $30 billion already invested in Russia’s oil and gas sector, U.S. and European explorers are betting the Ukraine crisis won’t derail their aspirations to capture some of Russia’s 75 billion barrels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

JODI, the EIA and Their Data

There has been very little new data to report lately. The JODI, Joint Organizations Data Initiative , data for March came out a few days ago. JODI is very good as far as the data it reports goes. The problem is there is a lot of data they just don’t report. If a country does not report their production for a given month then JODI just leaves it blank. And some countries they can’t seem to get any data from, so JODI just gives them zero for every month. For those countries I just substitute EIA numbers. As far as OPEC goes JODI is very political, reporting the inflated numbers that Iran and Venezuela report. I use instead the EIA data for those two countries.  Anyway here is what I have from JODI. The Data is in kb/d, last data point March 2014: But for a few countries JODI […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple