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Baker Hughes: US drilling rig count inches up to 1,875

07/11/2014 The US drilling rig count reflected another uneventful week, again edging up only 1 unit to reach 1,875 rigs working during the week ended July 11, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. Meanwhile, the average US rig count for June, released earlier this week, totaled 1,861 units, 2 more than 1,859 in May and 100 more than 1,761 in June 2013. The US onshore well count for the second quarter totaled 9,394 wells, up 428 compared with the first quarter. Compared with last year’s second quarter, the well count was up 383. Offshore rigs gained 2 units to 56, which was halved by a 1-unit loss in land rigs to 1,801. Rigs drilling in inland waters were unchanged from a week ago at 18. Oil rigs edged up a unit to 1,563 while gas rigs, at 311, and rigs considered unclassified, at 1, were unchanged. Horizontal drilling rigs climbed 8 […]

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Baker Hughes: U.S. well count hits 9,394

Activity in shale basins in Texas helped push the U.S. onshore well count above 9,000 for the second quarter, oil service company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday. Baker Hughes said the U.S. onshore rig count for the second quarter was 9,394, up 428 compared to the first quarter. The oil services company said the well count was boosted by increased activity in the Permian and Granite Wash shale basins in Texas, which saw 11 percent and 23 percent increases in well counts from the first quarter, respectively. Baker Hughes explains its well count provides an indication of where companies are working most in the country. Permian is one of the premier shale basins in the country and has helped Texas maintain its top position among oil-producing states. Baker Hughes published a monthly report on global rig counts Thursday, reflecting the number of rigs actively exploring for oil or natural […]

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Crumbling Roads in Oil Fields Slow U.S. Energy Boom

The road to U.S. energy security is often unpaved. In southern Texas and North Dakota , where shale drilling has propelled U.S. oil production to the highest level in 28 years, thousands of 18-wheel trucks are rumbling to wells on roads designed decades ago for farmers to bring crops to markets. Road closures have slowed output, with diverted traffic increasing accidents, as Texas seeks $1 billion to maintain roads in the oil belt. With the U.S. projected to be energy self-sufficient by 2030, according to BP Plc (BP/) , crumbling highways may threaten billions of dollars of investment in the oil patch. Because more wells are being drilled using hydraulic fracturing, there’s greater need for truckloads of water, sand and chemicals, as well as steel structures used in the process in fields often miles from major roads. “If you drive a cattle truck one or two times a year, […]

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Greenpeace takes another swipe at LEGO

Greenpeace said it was calling on LEGO to review its relationship with Royal Dutch Shell because of the oil company’s environmental legacy. "We’re asking LEGO to square the circle between its values and the companies it chooses to endorse," James Turner , a spokesman for Greenpeace International’s Arctic campaign, said in a statement . Greenpeace last week published a 15-page pamphlet expressing concern over a decision by LEGO to put Shell images on toys available at service stations operated by the energy company. The advocacy group said Shell is building brand loyalty with the next generation of consumers, business leaders and politicians. In a July 1 response, LEGO said it was being used as a scapegoat for Shell’s operations in the arctic. "We firmly believe that this matter must be handled between Shell and Greenpeace," the company said . "We are saddened when the LEGO brand is used as […]

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North Sea Maintenance Means August Crude-Oil Loadings to Fall 24%

The amount of crude oil due to be pumped from the North Sea fields will by 24% in August, field maintenance takes out swathes of production. The big change comes in the amount of Forties crude to be loaded, according to provisional loading programs seen by The Wall Street Journal. The Buzzard oil field, where Forties is produced and which is the U.K.’s biggest contributor to oil production, will be out of action for two weeks for scheduled maintenance work. Only four cargoes of Forties will be loaded in August, compared with 19 in July. Other grades will increase loadings to compensate. There will be seven Brent cargoes in August, up from six in July, and seven of Oseberg, also up from six. Ekofisk will load 17 cargoes in August compared with 15 in July. Loading programs are released and circulated among oil traders […]

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OPEC Update also Moscow Confirms Russian Oil Production in Decline

OPEC has just published their latest Monthly Oil Market Report with the June production numbers. All data is in thousand barrels per day and is Crude Only. OPEC 12 All revisions in the May data were minor. The June OPEC Crude Only production was down 80,000 bp/d from May. The big story in June was the invasion or Iraq. It has has only minor effect on production. Iraqi production was down 169,000 bp/d in June. Saudi Arabia OPEC’s largest produce and the World’s largest exporter, Saudi Arabia, increased Crude production by 48,000 bp/d in June. There has been very little change in Saudi production in the last nine months. All other OPEC producers had very little change from May to June. Charts of all 12 OPEC nations can be found on the   OPEC Charts   page. The big story this month comes from Russia. JODI Russia The JODI […]

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WTI Set for Third Weekly Drop as Supply Risks Ease

West Texas Intermediate headed for a third weekly drop as supply risks ease in Iraq and Libya while crude inventories expand where U.S. crude is stored. Brent declined in London . Futures slid as much as 0.5 percent in New York and are poised for the longest run of declines since November. Libya’s supply gained as the Sharara field resumed production and two oil-export terminals reopened. Fighting in Iraq, the second-largest OPEC member, hasn’t spread to the country’s south, home to three-quarters of its output. Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, rose the most since January, the Energy Information Administration reported on July 9. “Recent news that Libya will resume the export from two major terminals have removed parts of the risk premium ,” Thina Saltvedt, an analyst at Oslo-based Nordea Markets, said by e-mail. “And no news that the fighting in Iraq is spreading to the southern oil rich areas […]

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Oil price sheds gains as supply worries ease

The price of oil began to fall again on Friday, giving up most of the gains it had made the previous day in the first rally in two weeks. Benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery was down 54 cents to $102.37 a barrel at 0815 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed up 64 cents at $102.93 a barrel on Thursday. Oil prices shot up in the last month to a 10-month high over concerns that strife in Iraq might disrupt supplies. However, they have since been easing back down as al-Qaida inspired militants’ gains in Iraq did not affect oil exporters. Also putting downward pressure on prices is the prospect of a sudden return of Libyan oil to the global market. Libyan exports have been all but cut off over the last several months because of labor and political strife that has […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Drop on Greater-than-Expected Surplus

By Timothy Puko Natural-gas futures closed at a six-month low Thursday after a weekly stockpile report showed a greater surplus than expected. Prices for the front-month August contract settled down five cents, or 1.2%, to $4.12 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was a fourth-straight declining session, part of a month of losses that cut prices by 13.5% since June 12. Producers added 93 billion cubic feet of gas to storage for the week ended July 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The addition was 1 billion cubic feet larger than what analysts and traders had expected and 21 billion cubit feet larger than the five-year average addition for that week of the year. Beating the five-year average addition is an important measure of progress. Producers need to beat average storage additions by 20 to 35 billion cubic feet each week for […]

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Medium-Term Oil Market Report 2014

Oil futures surged in mid-June by $5/bbl to a nine-month high of more than $115/bbl for Brent as Islamist forces gained ground in Iraq, but later reversed their gains on confidence that Baghdad’s southern fields would remain untouched and improved prospects for a recovery in Libyan exports. Brent last traded at $108/bbl, WTI at $102/bbl. OPEC supplies were virtually unchanged in June at 30.03 mb/d, as lower Iraqi production offset gains in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria and Angola. The ‘call’ on OPEC for 2H14 was cut by 350 kb/d to 30.6 mb/d on improved non-OPEC supply and lower demand, and is forecast to dip to 29.8 mb/d in 2015 from 29.9 mb/d in 2014. Non-OPEC supply is forecast to grow by 1.2 mb/d in 2015, down slightly on 2013 and 2014 forecast […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple