Wildfire growth in Permian Basin crude output is outpacing the building of infrastructure to move the oil out of West Texas and eastern New Mexico to Gulf Coast refineries or the oil hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, causing a glut of crude in the region that will depress crude prices until the beginning of 2015, according to an analyst. Platts unit Bentek Energy projects August Permian crude production at 1.7 million b/d, with current pipeline capacity out of the region at 1.27 million b/d. Rail will play a negligible role in moving crude in the Permian, expected to carry only 627,000 b/d in 2015, Bentek data shows. “WTI Midland/Cushing differentials should revert to historical levels in early 2015 with completion of Plains’ Sunrise pipeline,” John Mayes, director of special studies at Turner, Mason, told attendees in Houston at last week’s RBN Energy/Turner Mason conference called “Surviving the Flood.” Demand for […]