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North Dakota rig count continues decline

The number of rigs engaged in exploration and production in North Dakota was down more than half from last year. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock BISMARCK, N.D., Sept. 21 (UPI) — The number of rigs engaged in exploration and production in North Dakota, the No. 2 oil producer in the nation, is on a steady decline, state data show. Data from the North Dakota Industrial Commission show 67 rigs employed across the state, down about 3 percent from last week and 65 percent less than this date in 2014. The 196 rigs engaged in exploration and production activity on Sept. 21, 2014, was the highest in three years . Oil field services company Baker Hughes reported last week the number of rigs deployed across the United States fell 1.2 percent to 644 for the third-straight week of declines. Low crude oil prices mean energy companies have less capital to invest […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. propane inventories are at an all-time high

graph of weekly propane and propylene inventories, as explained in the article text U.S. inventories of propane and propylene reached 97.7 million barrels as of September 11, the highest level in the 22 years that EIA has collected weekly propane inventory statistics. In the first six months of 2015, U.S. propane and propylene inventories were 24.3 million barrels higher on average compared to the same period in 2014. In the past year, nearly all of the increase in inventories occurred in the Gulf Coast region (PADD3). As production of propane and other hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) has grown, the ability to transport, store, and export these commodities has expanded . During the first six months of 2015, production of propane at natural gas plants was 31.3 million barrels, or 172,000 barrels per day (b/d), higher than during the first half of 2014. Exports increased by 33.3 million barrels (182,000 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Suncor’s Fort Hills Deal Shows Slump Hitting Oil-Sands Assets

Suncor Energy Inc.’s bargain on a further 10 percent stake in its Fort Hills oil-sands project shows how the energy market crash is reducing asset values in one of the most expensive places on Earth to extract crude. Canada’s largest energy producer will pay Total SA C$310 million ($234 million) for an additional 10 percent share in the C$15 billion oil sands mine being built in northern Alberta, the companies said Monday. That’s less than a third of the value Teck Resources Ltd., another partner in the project, ascribes to its stake. Teck said its 20 percent is worth C$2.3 billion in a July release. The deal is also 31 percent less than the C$450 million Desjardins Capital Markets assumes a 10 percent stake in Fort Hills is worth. Desjardins based its estimate on a reduced long-term U.S. oil price of $80 a barrel starting in 2017, Justin Bouchard, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Surprisingly Big Market for Sand Just Collapsed

In New Auburn , Wisconsin, a desolate, little outpost carved from the rolling pine-tree forests that run into Lake Superior, the collapse in oil is wreaking havoc on every aspect of the economy. It’s not that there’s any oil here. None in fact for hundreds of miles around. What they’ve got is sand. Real good sand, piled high in giant mounds. And in what is a little-known offshoot of the shale oil revolution that swept across America over the past decade, the market for sand — the grit that props open the rocks and makes fracking possible — exploded too, transforming almost overnight what had been a sleepy industry that sold primarily to the likes of glass makers and golf courses. So when the shale boom went bust, it took down the sand industry with it. Prices have sunk almost a third to under $40 per ton. A winter […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Plunging oil prices put question mark over $1.5tn of projects

Sign up for quick access to a wealth of global business news, including: Plunging oil prices put question mark over $1.5tn of projects Newspaper + Premium online Newspaper + Premium online Premium Full FT.com subscription Premium Full FT.com subscription Standard Full news & archive Standard Full news & archive Trial Try Premium online Trial Try Premium online Price Monthly Annual $66.30 $11.77 per week $53.00 $9.25 per week $36.00 $6.45 per week $1.00 for 4 weeks $1.00 for 4 weeks FT Alphaville plus selected FT blogs yes yes yes yes Unlimited FT.com article access yes yes yes yes Unlimited mobile and tablet access yes yes yes yes Unlimited fast FT yes yes yes yes 5 year company financials archive yes yes yes yes The LEX column yes yes no yes ePaper access yes yes no yes Three exclusive weekly emails yes yes no yes Daily newspaper delivery yes no […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak Oil Has More To Do With Oil Prices Than You May Think

The Origins of Peak Oil Awareness The scientific study of peak oil began in the 1950′s, when Shell geophysicist M. King Hubbert reported on the evolution of production rates in oil and gas fields. In a 1956 paper Hubbert suggested that oil production in a particular region would approximate a bell curve, increasing exponentially during the early stages of production before eventually slowing, reaching a peak when approximately half of a field had been extracted, and then going into terminal production decline. Hubbert applied his methodology to oil production for the Lower 48 US states and offshore areas. He estimated that the ultimate potential reserve of the Lower 48 US states and offshore areas was 150 billion barrels of oil. Based on that reserve estimate, the 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd) extraction rate in 1955, and the 52.5 billion barrels of oil that had been previously produced in […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Texas RRC Oil & Gas Production

The Texas RRC Oil & Gas Production numbers are out. They came out on a weekend this month. All RRC data is through July. The EIA data is through June. Keep in mind that the RRC data is incomplete, that is why the chart lines droop on the end. However the EIA data is from the EIA’s Petroleum Supply Monthly , the data of which the EIA says now comes directly from the states, and reflects the complete best estimate of oil production. Texas C+C According to the EIA data, Texas crude + condensate peaked, so far, in March and declined in April, May and June. However the incomplete data from the RRC shows production likely dropping sharply in April, up in May then flat for June and July. Dean C+C Dr. Dean Fantazzini has an algorithm that uses past and present RRC data and predicts what the final […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Syria peak oil weakened government’s finances ahead of Arab Spring in 2011

Fig 1: Refugees walking on Hungarian motorway towards Austria in Sep 2015. [Image via Wikipedia, Creative .20 license.] In May 2013 the Guardian had an article “Peak oil, climate change and pipeline geopolitics driving Syrian conflict” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/13/1 In March 2015, a group of researchers led by climatologist Colin Kelley (University of California) published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with the title “Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought” “Between 2006 and 2009, the people of Syria suffered during the most severe drought that country has experienced since the beginning of its instrumental record. As water became scarce, crops failed and cattle died on a huge scale. As many as 1.5 million Syrians, out of a population of just over 20 million, moved from the countryside to the outskirts of already overflowing cities” In this article we analyse […]

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Samson bankruptcy highlights M&A plans in offshore oil industry

The most significant bankruptcy of the current oil downturn has shone a spotlight on what is perhaps the most oversupplied corner of the energy world: the market for offshore rig services. Samson Resources Corp, an independent oil producer bought just four years ago for $7.2 billion, said in its late Wednesday filing for creditor protection that a 60 percent crude price slide CLc1 LCOc1 had upended its business. In the offshore space, restructurings and asset sales are widely seen as likely and some chief executive officers are now openly talking about acquisitions. Paragon Offshore Plc ( PGN.N ), which has an outdated fleet, said on Thursday it has hired Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a well-known restructuring firm, and the investment bank Lazard. And Vantage Drilling Co, which has a hefty debt load, has also said it retained financial adviser Lazard to explore options. Vantage did not provide additional comment. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for third week on weak crude prices: Baker Hughes

Stacked rigs are seen along with other idled oil drilling equipment at a depot in Dickinson, North Dakota June 26, 2015. U.S. energy firms cut oil rigs for a third week in a row this week, data showed on Friday, a sign that the latest crude price weakness was causing drillers to put on hold plans announced several months ago to return to the well pad. Drillers removed eight rigs in the week ended Sept. 18, bringing the total rig count down to 644, after cutting 23 rigs over the prior two weeks, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. That was the biggest three-week decline since May. Those reductions cut into the 47 oil rigs energy firms added in July and August after some drillers followed through on plans to add rigs announced in May and June when U.S. crude futures averaged $60 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple