Increasing production of crude oil in the Permian Basin in western Texas, and parts of New Mexico , has outpaced pipeline infrastructure to move the crude to refineries, causing prices for crude in the Permian Basin (at Midland, Texas) to fall below similar crudes priced at Cushing, Oklahoma. While the price difference between Midland and Cushing has been increasing for almost a year, recent refinery outages in the region caused it to widen substantially. Several infrastructure projects that will allow more crude to flow from the Permian to the U.S. Gulf Coast are expected to come online soon, which should cause this price difference to narrow. The latest U.S. Energy Information Administration Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) estimates that August Permian Basin oil production will be almost 1.7 million barrels per day (bbl/d), 0.3 million bbl/d more than a year ago. With increased […]