Chevron closes on it's biggest deal yet, several months after it was first announced. Chevron has completed its $53 BILLION acquisition of Hess Corporation, after winning an arbitration against ExxonMobil. The dispute was over Hess assets northeast of South America offshore Guyana. The arbitration delayed the takeover for over a year. The government also cleared the way for Hess Chairman John Hess to join Chevron's Board of Directors.

The government delivers the first 300,000 barrels from strategic stockpiles to help out a struggling refinery, with more to come. The Energy Department is offering up to a million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in what's called an exchange deal. ExxonMobil's refinery in Louisiana has been socked by what are described as offshore supply issues. They took delivery of the 300,000 barrels last week. According to the agreement, the oil company will replace the borrowed SPR crude along with additional barrels at no cost to taxpayers. Total SPR stockpiles drop to 402.7 million barrels for the week. EIA says commercial stockpiles dropped nearly four million barrels to just over 422 million.

Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson dropped a quarter a barrel on Friday, and starts this week at fifty-seven fifty ($57.50) per barrel. That's down 25 cents from last week, up a dollar-seventy-five ($ 1.75) from the first of the month and down four and a half dollars ($4.50) a barrel from the first of the year.

Weekly drilling stats spike in eastern Kansas. West of Wichita...not so much. &nbsp;*Regulators okayed 24 new drilling locations, 21 of them east of Wichita. That's 391 permits so far in 2025, compared to 537 last year at this time. *Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 31 newly-completed wells across the state. Just four of those are west of Wichita, including one well in Barton County, and one in Ellis County. The year-to-date total is 682 wells statewide, compared to 713 a year ago. *At 22 active rigs, the Kansas Rig Count is up 70% from last week and more than 80% from last month. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports eleven active rigs in eastern Kansas, which is up six. The tally in Western Kansas is up three to eleven rigs.

Baker Hughes reports a slight increase in its weekly rig count, which dropped to a nearly four-year low last week. The latest weekly tally is up by nine gas rigs. The breakout for horizontal drilling is up seven rigs. The tally for oil rigs was down by two rigs from a week ago. New Mexico is up four rigs. The count in Texas is down two rigs from last week.US crude production dipped slightly last week to 13,375,000 barrels per day, a two-month low. Four-week average output remains a few daily barrels above 13.4 million and is up from a year ago. Average production so far this year is just over 13.46 million barrels per day, up nearly 2.5 percent compared to a year ago. 

The government reports a big spike in crude exports, but the US remains a net crude importer. The US is imports more crude oil than we import by 2.8 million barrels per day. Our refined product exports outpace product imports by more than five million barrels per day, making us a net petroleum exporter by 2.2 million barrels a day.

Crude imports increased to 6.4 million barrels a day, &nbsp;up 366,000 barrels a day from last week. This week's tally is up nearly 700,000 barrels a day from a year ago, and is 800,000 higher than two years ago.

Crude exports averaged just over 3.5 million barrels a day, up by 27 percent from a week ago, but down 11 percent from last year at this time. The four-week average is up 21 percent from a year ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Listen to the daily News from the Oil Patch Report locally on&nbsp;1590 KVGB &amp; 95.5FM around 7:50am and B104.3 The Point around 4:40pm. News from the Oil Patch is brought to you in part by Kansas Fishing Tool, Tim Miller Oilfield Sales, Cooper Production Products, Kansas Strong, and Smith Supply.

<figure>
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 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, July 21John P. TretbarChevron closes on it's biggest deal yet, several months after it was first announced. Chevron has completed its $53 BILLION acquisition of Hess Corporation, after winning an arbitration against ExxonMobil. The dispute was over Hess assets northeast of South America offshore Guyana. The arbitration delayed the takeover for over a year. The government also cleared the way for Hess Chairman John Hess to join Chevron's Board of Directors.The government delivers the first 300,000 barrels from strategic stockpiles to help out a struggling refinery, with more to come. The Energy Department is offering up to a million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in what's called an exchange deal. ExxonMobil's refinery in Louisiana has been socked by what are described as offshore supply issues. They took delivery of the 300,000 barrels last week. According to the agreement, the oil company will replace the borrowed SPR crude along with additional barrels at no cost to taxpayers. Total SPR stockpiles drop to 402.7 million barrels for the week. EIA says commercial stockpiles dropped nearly four million barrels to just over 422 million.Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson dropped a quarter a barrel on Friday, and starts this week at fifty-seven fifty ($57.50) per barrel. That's down 25 cents from last week, up a dollar-seventy-five ($ 1.75) from the first of the month and down four and a half dollars ($4.50) a barrel from the first of the year.Weekly drilling stats spike in eastern Kansas. West of Wichita...not so much. &nbsp;*Regulators okayed 24 new drilling locations, 21 of them east of Wichita. That's 391 permits so far in 2025, compared to 537 last year at this time. *Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 31 newly-completed wells across the state. Just four of those are west of Wichita, including one well in Barton County, and one in Ellis County. The year-to-date total is 682 wells statewide, compared to 713 a year ago. *At 22 active rigs, the Kansas Rig Count is up 70% from last week and more than 80% from last month. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports eleven active rigs in eastern Kansas, which is up six. The tally in Western Kansas is up three to eleven rigs.Baker Hughes reports a slight increase in its weekly rig count, which dropped to a nearly four-year low last week. The latest weekly tally is up by nine gas rigs. The breakout for horizontal drilling is up seven rigs. The tally for oil rigs was down by two rigs from a week ago. New Mexico is up four rigs. The count in Texas is down two rigs from last week.US crude production dipped slightly last week to 13,375,000 barrels per day, a two-month low. Four-week average output remains a few daily barrels above 13.4 million and is up from a year ago. Average production so far this year is just over 13.46 million barrels per day, up nearly 2.5 percent compared to a year ago. The government reports a big spike in crude exports, but the US remains a net crude importer. The US is imports more crude oil than we import by 2.8 million barrels per day. Our refined product exports outpace product imports by more than five million barrels per day, making us a net petroleum exporter by 2.2 million barrels a day.Crude imports increased to 6.4 million barrels a day, &nbsp;up 366,000 barrels a day from last week. This week's tally is up nearly 700,000 barrels a day from a year ago, and is 800,000 higher than two years ago.Crude exports averaged just over 3.5 million barrels a day, up by 27 percent from a week ago, but down 11 percent from last year at this time. The four-week average is up 21 percent from a year ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;Listen to the daily News from the Oil Patch Report locally on&nbsp;1590 KVGB &amp; 95.5FM around 7:50am and B104.3 The Point around 4:40pm. News from the Oil Patch is brought to you in part by Kansas Fishing Tool, Tim Miller Oilfield Sales, Cooper Production Products, Kansas Strong, and Smith Supply.

News from the Oil Patch: Chevron Closes $54B Hess Corp Takeover

US crude-oil production drops for the third week in a row.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reports production last week averaged 13.38 million barrels per day. That's the first time since May 16, and only the fifth time this year, in which weekly output has dropped below 13.4 million.&nbsp; The average over the last four weeks and the average so far this year each remain over 13.4 million barrels a day.

Crude oil production in Kansas is just over half what it was ten years ago. The Kansas Geological Survey reports just 73,303 &nbsp;barrels a day last year, the lowest annual total in KGS records. Output for the first quarter of this year is down to 68,469 barrels a day. Ellis County output dropped 200 daily barrels from a year ago and seven hundred from two years ago, to an average of 5,299 barrels a day. Haskell County lands in second among counties at 4,551 barrels a day, an increase of more than six hundred daily barrels from the first quarter of last year. Finney County, at third, improved on last year by about 100 barrels at 3,961 barrels a day. Barton County notched production of 3,728 barrels a day through March, down slightly from last year.

The most recent weekly EIA crude-export report of 2.7 million barrels per day is down more than a million daily barrels from a year ago, but up half a million from two years ago. Four-week average crude exports are down eighteen percent from last year at this time.

Crude oil exports in the United States saw ups and downs in the first six months of 2025. Crude exports are down more than a million barrels a day from a month ago, and are nearly 2.5 million barrels lower than the recent peak in mid-April. The Energy Information Administration says crude exports started this year just over three million barrels a day, rising over four million for most of the first three months of the year. Exports topped five million barrels a day for one week in April and have plummeted since, down 214,000 barrels a day in May and another 1.15 million in June.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve took delivery on 200,000 barrels of crude last week. The current dipstick reads 403 million barrels, up nearly 30 million or eight percent from a year ago. The US sold crude for an average of $95 a barrel from the SPR to limit price increases after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We've been refilling the reserves prices about $25 less. That's $970 million in savings since refill operations resumed in April of last year.

Commercial crude stockpiles increased by more than seven million barrels. EIA says the nationwide stockpile of 426 million barrels (as of July 4) is about eight percent below the five-year average for this time of year.

Fuel inventories dropped last week. EIA says diesel fuel stockpiles are 23% below the five year average for this time of year. Stockpiles of regular gasoline are about one percent below the five year seasonal average.

Fuel prices tick upward, but remain lower than a year ago. The auto club AAA reports this summer's pump prices reached the lowest seasonal average in four years. The national average of $3.17 a gallon is up a few pennies from earlier in the week, up a nickel from last month, but down 35 cents from a year ago.

Kansas is among the eleven cheapest states for regular gasoline at $2.88 per gallon, down a penny from last week, but up two cents from last month. Average diesel prices in Kansas are about twenty cents higher than a month ago, but nearly a dime cheaper than a year ago at $3.43 per gallon statewide.

The Association of American Railroads reports a decline in US oil-by-rail despite an increase in overall rail traffic. The tally of June petroleum tanker carloads trails last June by 1.5%. Totals for the first half of the year are down just under one percent. The latest weekly tally of just over 10-thousand tanker carloads is up five percent over the same week last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;

News from the Oil Patch is brought to you locally in part by: Kansas Fishing Tool, Tim Miller Oilfield Sales, Cooper Production Products, Kansas Strong, and Smith Supply.

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 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, July 14John P. TretbarUS crude-oil production drops for the third week in a row.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reports production last week averaged 13.38 million barrels per day. That's the first time since May 16, and only the fifth time this year, in which weekly output has dropped below 13.4 million.&nbsp; The average over the last four weeks and the average so far this year each remain over 13.4 million barrels a day.Crude oil production in Kansas is just over half what it was ten years ago. The Kansas Geological Survey reports just 73,303 &nbsp;barrels a day last year, the lowest annual total in KGS records. Output for the first quarter of this year is down to 68,469 barrels a day. Ellis County output dropped 200 daily barrels from a year ago and seven hundred from two years ago, to an average of 5,299 barrels a day. Haskell County lands in second among counties at 4,551 barrels a day, an increase of more than six hundred daily barrels from the first quarter of last year. Finney County, at third, improved on last year by about 100 barrels at 3,961 barrels a day. Barton County notched production of 3,728 barrels a day through March, down slightly from last year.The most recent weekly EIA crude-export report of 2.7 million barrels per day is down more than a million daily barrels from a year ago, but up half a million from two years ago. Four-week average crude exports are down eighteen percent from last year at this time.Crude oil exports in the United States saw ups and downs in the first six months of 2025. Crude exports are down more than a million barrels a day from a month ago, and are nearly 2.5 million barrels lower than the recent peak in mid-April. The Energy Information Administration says crude exports started this year just over three million barrels a day, rising over four million for most of the first three months of the year. Exports topped five million barrels a day for one week in April and have plummeted since, down 214,000 barrels a day in May and another 1.15 million in June.The Strategic Petroleum Reserve took delivery on 200,000 barrels of crude last week. The current dipstick reads 403 million barrels, up nearly 30 million or eight percent from a year ago. The US sold crude for an average of $95 a barrel from the SPR to limit price increases after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We've been refilling the reserves prices about $25 less. That's $970 million in savings since refill operations resumed in April of last year.Commercial crude stockpiles increased by more than seven million barrels. EIA says the nationwide stockpile of 426 million barrels (as of July 4) is about eight percent below the five-year average for this time of year.Fuel inventories dropped last week. EIA says diesel fuel stockpiles are 23% below the five year average for this time of year. Stockpiles of regular gasoline are about one percent below the five year seasonal average.Fuel prices tick upward, but remain lower than a year ago. The auto club AAA reports this summer's pump prices reached the lowest seasonal average in four years. The national average of $3.17 a gallon is up a few pennies from earlier in the week, up a nickel from last month, but down 35 cents from a year ago.Kansas is among the eleven cheapest states for regular gasoline at $2.88 per gallon, down a penny from last week, but up two cents from last month. Average diesel prices in Kansas are about twenty cents higher than a month ago, but nearly a dime cheaper than a year ago at $3.43 per gallon statewide.The Association of American Railroads reports a decline in US oil-by-rail despite an increase in overall rail traffic. The tally of June petroleum tanker carloads trails last June by 1.5%. Totals for the first half of the year are down just under one percent. The latest weekly tally of just over 10-thousand tanker carloads is up five percent over the same week last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;News from the Oil Patch is brought to you locally in part by: Kansas Fishing Tool, Tim Miller Oilfield Sales, Cooper Production Products, Kansas Strong, and Smith Supply.

News from the Oil Patch: Kansas, US Crude Production Drop

News from the Oil Patch, July 7 John P. Tretbar

Out of seven new drilling permit in Western Kansas last week, three are close to home. Statewide, drilling permits are down 27 percent from a year ago. There are seven new drilling in Western Kansas this week, including three in Ellis County. That's nine so far this year in Ellis County and 363 statewide.&nbsp; Independent Oil and Gas Service reported 17 new well-completions statewide.

The weekly rig count from Baker Hughes drops by seven oil rigs and one gas rig to the lowest US tally in nearly four years. The breakout for horizontal drilling is down a whopping sixteen rigs. Oklahoma is down three, Texas and New Mexico are each down two.

The Kansas Rig Count is unchanged at 12 rigs statewide but down two in Western Kansas.

The Kansas Corporation Commission reports 82 new intent-to-drill notices across the state last month. That's 307 so far this year. After six months last year we had 506. A search at the KCC Web site turns up four new intents in Barton County, 11 so far this year, compared to 14 a year ago. In Ellis County, &nbsp;two Intents came up for June, noting eight through June, up from five through June last year.

Commercial crude inventories are up nearly four million barrels at 419 million.&nbsp; Stockpiles are nine percent below the five year average for this time of year. EIA reports another 200,000 barrels in refills this week for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. DOE has added 9.1 million barrels this year in weekly increments ranging from 200,000 to 1.1 million barrels, at prices an average $28 cheaper than what we sold it for three years ago.

EIA says we're still a net petroleum exporter, but only by 404-thousand barrels a day. That ratio last week was over 3.7million. A big drop in exports skews reporting on Net Petroleum Imports. Crude exports were down by nearly half, from 4.3 million to 2.3 million barrels a day.&nbsp; Crude imports last week increased by a million daily barrels to just over 6.9 million. Product imports were down slightly. Product exports were down half a million daily barrels or seven percent.

Domestic crude-oil production declined this week after inching upward in each of the last eight weeks. The Energy Information Administration reports output for the week through June 27th of 13,433,000 barrels per day, down two thousand barrels from the week before. The four-week average is up more than 200-thousand barrels a day from a year ago. Cumulative production for this year drops slightly but remains more than a quarter-million barrels a day higher than the same tally a year ago.

The United States set some new milestones in energy consumption in 2024.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reports total US energy consumption rose by one percent last year to 94 quads, or 94 quadrillion British Thermal Units. EIA says fossil fuels, including petroleum, natural gas and coal, account for 82% of domestic energy. Renewable energy sources and nuclear energy account for the rest.&nbsp; Petroleum remains the top source, as it has been for 75 years. Natural gas is second.&nbsp; For the first time, nuclear energy consumption surpassed coal to become our number-three energy source.

<figure>
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 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, July 7 John P. TretbarOut of seven new drilling permit in Western Kansas last week, three are close to home. Statewide, drilling permits are down 27 percent from a year ago. There are seven new drilling in Western Kansas this week, including three in Ellis County. That's nine so far this year in Ellis County and 363 statewide.&nbsp; Independent Oil and Gas Service reported 17 new well-completions statewide.The weekly rig count from Baker Hughes drops by seven oil rigs and one gas rig to the lowest US tally in nearly four years. The breakout for horizontal drilling is down a whopping sixteen rigs. Oklahoma is down three, Texas and New Mexico are each down two.The Kansas Rig Count is unchanged at 12 rigs statewide but down two in Western Kansas.The Kansas Corporation Commission reports 82 new intent-to-drill notices across the state last month. That's 307 so far this year. After six months last year we had 506. A search at the KCC Web site turns up four new intents in Barton County, 11 so far this year, compared to 14 a year ago. In Ellis County, &nbsp;two Intents came up for June, noting eight through June, up from five through June last year.Commercial crude inventories are up nearly four million barrels at 419 million.&nbsp; Stockpiles are nine percent below the five year average for this time of year. EIA reports another 200,000 barrels in refills this week for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. DOE has added 9.1 million barrels this year in weekly increments ranging from 200,000 to 1.1 million barrels, at prices an average $28 cheaper than what we sold it for three years ago.EIA says we're still a net petroleum exporter, but only by 404-thousand barrels a day. That ratio last week was over 3.7million. A big drop in exports skews reporting on Net Petroleum Imports. Crude exports were down by nearly half, from 4.3 million to 2.3 million barrels a day.&nbsp; Crude imports last week increased by a million daily barrels to just over 6.9 million. Product imports were down slightly. Product exports were down half a million daily barrels or seven percent.Domestic crude-oil production declined this week after inching upward in each of the last eight weeks. The Energy Information Administration reports output for the week through June 27th of 13,433,000 barrels per day, down two thousand barrels from the week before. The four-week average is up more than 200-thousand barrels a day from a year ago. Cumulative production for this year drops slightly but remains more than a quarter-million barrels a day higher than the same tally a year ago.The United States set some new milestones in energy consumption in 2024.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reports total US energy consumption rose by one percent last year to 94 quads, or 94 quadrillion British Thermal Units. EIA says fossil fuels, including petroleum, natural gas and coal, account for 82% of domestic energy. Renewable energy sources and nuclear energy account for the rest.&nbsp; Petroleum remains the top source, as it has been for 75 years. Natural gas is second.&nbsp; For the first time, nuclear energy consumption surpassed coal to become our number-three energy source.

News from the Oil Patch: Rig counts drop to four-year low

News from the Oil Patch, June 23 John P. Tretbar

The government says your electric bill will go up slightly compared to last summer. The Energy Information Administration forecasts an average monthly bill, nationwide, of $178, compared to $173 a month last summer. The report suggests that consumption will go down this summer, driven by cooler weather. But EIA says that will only partially offset rising residential electric rates expected in most areas of the US.

July crude expired Friday a few pennies below $75 a barrel. The August NYMEX contract was below $74 at the close of trading Friday. Crude prices were not spiking as many expected Monday. NYMEX crude was a few cents higher, still trading a few cents below $74 a barrel by lunchtime Monday. London Brent was over $77 by midday Monday.US Rig Counts drop for the eighth week in a row. Baker Hughes reports 554 active rigs across the country. The total in Texas is down four rigs, Oklahoma is down two and North Dakota is down one. New Mexico and Wyoming each gained two rigs. Colorado and Louisiana each added one rig.

The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is down one rig or eight percent from a week ago, down 45% from a month ago, and down 61% from a year ago. There are two active drilling rigs in the eastern half of the state, and nine in Western Kansas, which is down one rig from a week ago.

The state okayed nine new drilling locations in Kansas. Five of them are east of Wichita, and four are in Western Kansas. Drilling permits this year trail last year by 133 permits.

The 563 well-completions reported this year trail last year by just six wells. Out of 17 new completions last week in Kansas, seven are west of Wichita, including one in Ellis County and another in Haskell County.US crude stockpiles dropped by the biggest amount in nearly a year.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reports commercial inventories of just under 421 million barrels, down nearly 12 million barrels from a week earlier. The last inventory decline this large was in the week through June 28, 2024.The Strategic Petroleum Reserve took delivery on 200,000 barrels last week, or 31.4 million barrels in the last year. The total is now over 402 million barrels.

Crude production in the United States was nearly unchanged, dropping by eight barrels per day in Alaska, but increasing eleven barrels a day in the rest of the country, for a net increase of three barrels a day compared to a week earlier. Total output now averages 13,431,000 barrels a day. &nbsp;The Administration will green-light energy development in The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a patch roughly the size of Indiana that's believed to contain 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The government is repealing Biden-era curbs blocking oil drilling across most of the 23-million acre reserve. The state estimates output from the reserve will climb to nearly 140,000 barrels per day by the year 2033, compared to just 16,000 barrels per day now. ConocoPhillips is developing its 600-million-barrel Willow project in the NPR-A, which is expected to produce its first oil in three years.

Total energy production in the US last year outpaced the record set the year before, with total energy production over 103 quadrillion British thermal units...that's up about one percent from 2023. The Energy Information Administration says several individual energy sources set records as well, including crude oil, natural gas, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, solar and wind.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
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 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, June 23 John P. TretbarThe government says your electric bill will go up slightly compared to last summer. The Energy Information Administration forecasts an average monthly bill, nationwide, of $178, compared to $173 a month last summer. The report suggests that consumption will go down this summer, driven by cooler weather. But EIA says that will only partially offset rising residential electric rates expected in most areas of the US.July crude expired Friday a few pennies below $75 a barrel. The August NYMEX contract was below $74 at the close of trading Friday. Crude prices were not spiking as many expected Monday. NYMEX crude was a few cents higher, still trading a few cents below $74 a barrel by lunchtime Monday. London Brent was over $77 by midday Monday.US Rig Counts drop for the eighth week in a row. Baker Hughes reports 554 active rigs across the country. The total in Texas is down four rigs, Oklahoma is down two and North Dakota is down one. New Mexico and Wyoming each gained two rigs. Colorado and Louisiana each added one rig.The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is down one rig or eight percent from a week ago, down 45% from a month ago, and down 61% from a year ago. There are two active drilling rigs in the eastern half of the state, and nine in Western Kansas, which is down one rig from a week ago.The state okayed nine new drilling locations in Kansas. Five of them are east of Wichita, and four are in Western Kansas. Drilling permits this year trail last year by 133 permits.The 563 well-completions reported this year trail last year by just six wells. Out of 17 new completions last week in Kansas, seven are west of Wichita, including one in Ellis County and another in Haskell County.US crude stockpiles dropped by the biggest amount in nearly a year.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reports commercial inventories of just under 421 million barrels, down nearly 12 million barrels from a week earlier. The last inventory decline this large was in the week through June 28, 2024.The Strategic Petroleum Reserve took delivery on 200,000 barrels last week, or 31.4 million barrels in the last year. The total is now over 402 million barrels.Crude production in the United States was nearly unchanged, dropping by eight barrels per day in Alaska, but increasing eleven barrels a day in the rest of the country, for a net increase of three barrels a day compared to a week earlier. Total output now averages 13,431,000 barrels a day. &nbsp;The Administration will green-light energy development in The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a patch roughly the size of Indiana that's believed to contain 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The government is repealing Biden-era curbs blocking oil drilling across most of the 23-million acre reserve. The state estimates output from the reserve will climb to nearly 140,000 barrels per day by the year 2033, compared to just 16,000 barrels per day now. ConocoPhillips is developing its 600-million-barrel Willow project in the NPR-A, which is expected to produce its first oil in three years.Total energy production in the US last year outpaced the record set the year before, with total energy production over 103 quadrillion British thermal units...that's up about one percent from 2023. The Energy Information Administration says several individual energy sources set records as well, including crude oil, natural gas, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, solar and wind.&nbsp;&nbsp;

News from the Oil Patch: Prices steady despite tensions

News from the Oil Patch, May 27 John P. Tretbar

The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes drops to its lowest total in more than three years. The weekly U.S. tally is down eight oil rigs and two gas rigs for a total of 566, the lowest total since November, 2021. The report shows a drop of nine horizontal rigs. Texas is down five.&nbsp; Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Dakota are each down two rigs.

The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is up one in eastern Kansas at eight rigs, and down two west of Wichita at eleven active rigs. The tally is down 21 percent from a month ago and 41 percent from a year ago. Drilling was underway Friday on two leases in Finney County.

Kansas operators completed 17 new wells last week, with eight in eastern Kansas and nine west of Wichita, including one in Finney County. Independent Oil Gas Service reports 485 new well-completions so far this year, compared to 512 a year ago.

Regulators in The Sunflower State okayed eight new drilling locations statewide. There are two new permits east of Wichita, and six in Western Kansas, including two in Ellis County and one in Barton County. That's 271 so far this year, compared to 377 last year at this time.

Three years ago, the United States sold some 300 million barrels from crude oil from our strategic reserves, in an effort to tame oil prices. Today, prices are $35 per barrel cheaper, and our refill savings are approaching one BILLION dollars.&nbsp; The Energy Department added 800,000 barrels to the Strategic Petroleum Reserves last week, raising the total over 400 million barrels (down from over 600 million at its peak). The government has refilled 36.5 million barrels since last April. Current prices are more than $30 less than what we received selling those barrels.

Domestic crude inventories rose more than a million barrels to just over 443 million, as of May 16. The government reports stockpiles are about six percent below the five-year seasonal average.US crude production rose slightly last week but remains below 13.4 million barrels a day for a second week. The Energy Information Administration reports average output of just over 13.39 million barrels per day, up five million daily barrels from a week ago.

Crude imports outpaced exports by two and a half million barrels a day in the week through May 16. Both are up for the week but down from a year ago. The Energy Information Administration reports just over six million barrels a day in crude imports, up 200,000 barrels a day from last week, but down more than 600,000 barrels a day from the same week last year. Crude exports averaged a little over 3.5 million barrels a day, up slightly from last week, but down 1.2 million daily barrels from a year ago. Compared to last year at this time, the four-week average imports are down 13% or nearly a million daily barrels. The four week average is down 600,000 barrels a day from a year ago, or about two percent.

Texas regulators now say oil-and-gas drillers must demonstrate that the wastewater they're producing and then injecting back into the ground is staying where they inject it. The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state's oil and gas regulator, is now acknowledging the continued and growing demand for underground saltwater disposal capacity in the prolific Permian Basin. Last week they also noted the physical limitations of the basin's disposal reservoirs. Operators must now prove in advance that the proposed injection zone is up to the task of retaining waste, and that other wells within a two-mile area won't cause problems.

It's getting expensive for operators in Colorado who continue to violate a new energy reporting law. A new probe shows 20 oil and gas companies in Colorado have failed to report the chemicals they used in drilling and fracking operations as required by the law. No one disputes the findings. The law allows the state to fine oil and gas companies $200 a day for failure to report those chemicals yet no one is explaining why upwards of $37 Million in fines have not been collected. Local media assert the government has not collected any fines or penalties for noncompliance.

Canada's only east-west oil pipeline is completing it's first year since the government expansion that tripled its capacity. The lion's share of that extra crude is going to China. About 90% of the crude oil produced in Canada, about four million barrels a day, winds up in the United States from pipelines moving oil from north to south. The Trans Mountain Pipeline moves oil west from the oil fields of western Canada to the Pacific Coast. The pipeline can move 890,000 barrels a day at full capacity. Since last May, Canada shipped about 207,000 barrels per day of Trans-Mountain crude to China. US operators took about 173,000 barrels a day. The Canadian government expects the pipeline to reach 84% capacity this year, and 92% next year.

Iraq says it welcomes new oil deals with the US in the disputed Kurdistan region, but says those deals must go through Iraq's federal government. Baghdad says two huge new US deals in the semi-autonomous region violate Iraq's constitution. Kurdistan's government signed and announced the deals last week. The two agreements are worth a combined $110 BILLION, and involve about five trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 900 million barrels of recoverable oil.

The world's fastest-growing economy is also among the largest importers of crude oil. Increasing Russia sanctions, and US tariffs, are moving a lot of that business our way.&nbsp; India's energy minister says they are ready to increase oil imports from the United States. India has been buying a lot of oil from Russia lately, despite ongoing international pressure. Minister Singh Puri says pricing and availability, and not ideology, will drive his energy decisions. But he did acknowledge increasing US imports would ease the Trump Administration's tariff and trade deficit concerns. India has the world's fastest growing major economy, annual energy needs topping $150 BILLION, and had a US trade deficit of well over $45 billion last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, May 27 John P. TretbarThe Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes drops to its lowest total in more than three years. The weekly U.S. tally is down eight oil rigs and two gas rigs for a total of 566, the lowest total since November, 2021. The report shows a drop of nine horizontal rigs. Texas is down five.&nbsp; Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Dakota are each down two rigs.The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is up one in eastern Kansas at eight rigs, and down two west of Wichita at eleven active rigs. The tally is down 21 percent from a month ago and 41 percent from a year ago. Drilling was underway Friday on two leases in Finney County.Kansas operators completed 17 new wells last week, with eight in eastern Kansas and nine west of Wichita, including one in Finney County. Independent Oil Gas Service reports 485 new well-completions so far this year, compared to 512 a year ago.Regulators in The Sunflower State okayed eight new drilling locations statewide. There are two new permits east of Wichita, and six in Western Kansas, including two in Ellis County and one in Barton County. That's 271 so far this year, compared to 377 last year at this time.Three years ago, the United States sold some 300 million barrels from crude oil from our strategic reserves, in an effort to tame oil prices. Today, prices are $35 per barrel cheaper, and our refill savings are approaching one BILLION dollars.&nbsp; The Energy Department added 800,000 barrels to the Strategic Petroleum Reserves last week, raising the total over 400 million barrels (down from over 600 million at its peak). The government has refilled 36.5 million barrels since last April. Current prices are more than $30 less than what we received selling those barrels.Domestic crude inventories rose more than a million barrels to just over 443 million, as of May 16. The government reports stockpiles are about six percent below the five-year seasonal average.US crude production rose slightly last week but remains below 13.4 million barrels a day for a second week. The Energy Information Administration reports average output of just over 13.39 million barrels per day, up five million daily barrels from a week ago.Crude imports outpaced exports by two and a half million barrels a day in the week through May 16. Both are up for the week but down from a year ago. The Energy Information Administration reports just over six million barrels a day in crude imports, up 200,000 barrels a day from last week, but down more than 600,000 barrels a day from the same week last year. Crude exports averaged a little over 3.5 million barrels a day, up slightly from last week, but down 1.2 million daily barrels from a year ago. Compared to last year at this time, the four-week average imports are down 13% or nearly a million daily barrels. The four week average is down 600,000 barrels a day from a year ago, or about two percent.Texas regulators now say oil-and-gas drillers must demonstrate that the wastewater they're producing and then injecting back into the ground is staying where they inject it. The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state's oil and gas regulator, is now acknowledging the continued and growing demand for underground saltwater disposal capacity in the prolific Permian Basin. Last week they also noted the physical limitations of the basin's disposal reservoirs. Operators must now prove in advance that the proposed injection zone is up to the task of retaining waste, and that other wells within a two-mile area won't cause problems.It's getting expensive for operators in Colorado who continue to violate a new energy reporting law. A new probe shows 20 oil and gas companies in Colorado have failed to report the chemicals they used in drilling and fracking operations as required by the law. No one disputes the findings. The law allows the state to fine oil and gas companies $200 a day for failure to report those chemicals yet no one is explaining why upwards of $37 Million in fines have not been collected. Local media assert the government has not collected any fines or penalties for noncompliance.Canada's only east-west oil pipeline is completing it's first year since the government expansion that tripled its capacity. The lion's share of that extra crude is going to China. About 90% of the crude oil produced in Canada, about four million barrels a day, winds up in the United States from pipelines moving oil from north to south. The Trans Mountain Pipeline moves oil west from the oil fields of western Canada to the Pacific Coast. The pipeline can move 890,000 barrels a day at full capacity. Since last May, Canada shipped about 207,000 barrels per day of Trans-Mountain crude to China. US operators took about 173,000 barrels a day. The Canadian government expects the pipeline to reach 84% capacity this year, and 92% next year.Iraq says it welcomes new oil deals with the US in the disputed Kurdistan region, but says those deals must go through Iraq's federal government. Baghdad says two huge new US deals in the semi-autonomous region violate Iraq's constitution. Kurdistan's government signed and announced the deals last week. The two agreements are worth a combined $110 BILLION, and involve about five trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 900 million barrels of recoverable oil.The world's fastest-growing economy is also among the largest importers of crude oil. Increasing Russia sanctions, and US tariffs, are moving a lot of that business our way.&nbsp; India's energy minister says they are ready to increase oil imports from the United States. India has been buying a lot of oil from Russia lately, despite ongoing international pressure. Minister Singh Puri says pricing and availability, and not ideology, will drive his energy decisions. But he did acknowledge increasing US imports would ease the Trump Administration's tariff and trade deficit concerns. India has the world's fastest growing major economy, annual energy needs topping $150 BILLION, and had a US trade deficit of well over $45 billion last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;

News from the Oil Patch: Rig counts drop to 3-year low

Crude prices rally Monday, after tariff tensions eased over the weekend. NYMEX crude prices jumped three percent on Monday, pushing prices over $63 a barrel. London Brent was rising toward $66 a barrel by midday Monday.

Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $51.25 per barrel, after rising a dollar on Friday.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve continues to prove its usefulness as both price tamer and profit center. The government took delivery on another 600,000 barrels at the SPR last week. Refills since April of last year total more than 35 million barrels, at prices dramatically cheaper than the sale price in 2022. EIA said the average price they received was around $95 a barrel. Current prices are below $59.Commercial crude inventories dropped by two million barrels. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles as of May 2 stand at 438.4 million barrels. That's about seven percent below the five-year seasonal average.

Domestic crude production dips below 13.4 million barrels a day for only the second week this year. EIA reports cumulative production and the four-week average continue to drop. Each surpasses the last year by about two percent at just over 13.4 million barrels a day.

The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes drops to 578 nationwide. The tally has been this low only once in more than three years. New Mexico drops by four rigs while Texas gains two. Louisiana is down three rigs, Wyoming is down one, and Utah is up one. The report notes a drop of five directional rigs and one horizontal rig.

The Kansas Rig Count is up two in eastern Kansas and one higher west of Wichita. Independent Oil and Gas Service pegs the total at 23 active drilling rigs, up 15% from last week, unchanged from last month, and down 23% from last year.

Up until last week, well-completions were the only oil patch barometer that outpaced the same tallies a year ago. The 17 new well completions for the week through May 8th bring the total for the year to 444 statewide, compared to 452 a year ago. There are two new completions in Russell County and two in Finney County, out of nine in Western Kansas.

Kansas regulators okayed 18 new drilling locations. Out of ten in Western Kansas, there are two in Barton County and one in Ellis County. That's 258 permits for drilling at new locations this year, down from 331 a year ago.

The world's largest crude-oil exporter announced a billion-dollar-plus drop in profits for the first quarter of the year, blamed largely on sagging crude prices. Saudi Aramco announced earnings of $26 BILLION, down from $27.3 BILLION a year ago.US crude imports outpace exports by more than two million barrels a day. Crude-oil exports are down slightly but remain above four thousand barrels a day. Crude imports average just over six million barrels a day, up half a million from last week but down nearly a million daily barrels from last year at this time.

The Justice Department follows up on an executive order to challenge state environmental laws, and block states from filing climate-change lawsuits against energy companies. The government filed its own lawsuits to block such laws in Hawaii, Michigan, New York and Vermont, claiming such they are preempted by the federal Clean Air Act.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
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 </figure>Crude prices rally Monday, after tariff tensions eased over the weekend. NYMEX crude prices jumped three percent on Monday, pushing prices over $63 a barrel. London Brent was rising toward $66 a barrel by midday Monday.Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $51.25 per barrel, after rising a dollar on Friday.The Strategic Petroleum Reserve continues to prove its usefulness as both price tamer and profit center. The government took delivery on another 600,000 barrels at the SPR last week. Refills since April of last year total more than 35 million barrels, at prices dramatically cheaper than the sale price in 2022. EIA said the average price they received was around $95 a barrel. Current prices are below $59.Commercial crude inventories dropped by two million barrels. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles as of May 2 stand at 438.4 million barrels. That's about seven percent below the five-year seasonal average.Domestic crude production dips below 13.4 million barrels a day for only the second week this year. EIA reports cumulative production and the four-week average continue to drop. Each surpasses the last year by about two percent at just over 13.4 million barrels a day.The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes drops to 578 nationwide. The tally has been this low only once in more than three years. New Mexico drops by four rigs while Texas gains two. Louisiana is down three rigs, Wyoming is down one, and Utah is up one. The report notes a drop of five directional rigs and one horizontal rig.The Kansas Rig Count is up two in eastern Kansas and one higher west of Wichita. Independent Oil and Gas Service pegs the total at 23 active drilling rigs, up 15% from last week, unchanged from last month, and down 23% from last year.Up until last week, well-completions were the only oil patch barometer that outpaced the same tallies a year ago. The 17 new well completions for the week through May 8th bring the total for the year to 444 statewide, compared to 452 a year ago. There are two new completions in Russell County and two in Finney County, out of nine in Western Kansas.Kansas regulators okayed 18 new drilling locations. Out of ten in Western Kansas, there are two in Barton County and one in Ellis County. That's 258 permits for drilling at new locations this year, down from 331 a year ago.The world's largest crude-oil exporter announced a billion-dollar-plus drop in profits for the first quarter of the year, blamed largely on sagging crude prices. Saudi Aramco announced earnings of $26 BILLION, down from $27.3 BILLION a year ago.US crude imports outpace exports by more than two million barrels a day. Crude-oil exports are down slightly but remain above four thousand barrels a day. Crude imports average just over six million barrels a day, up half a million from last week but down nearly a million daily barrels from last year at this time.The Justice Department follows up on an executive order to challenge state environmental laws, and block states from filing climate-change lawsuits against energy companies. The government filed its own lawsuits to block such laws in Hawaii, Michigan, New York and Vermont, claiming such they are preempted by the federal Clean Air Act.&nbsp;&nbsp;

News from the Oil Patch: Domestic crude dips below 13.4 million barrels a day

News from the Oil Patch, Apr. 28 John P. Tretbar

The government says total US petroleum exports set a record last year for the fifth year in a row, at 6.6 million barrels per day. EIA says that's fueled mainly by diesel and jet fuel exports. Mexico and Brazil were the top customers last year.

Last week, crude-oil exports retreated after a spike the week before. EIA reports 3.5 million barrels a day in US crude exports for the week through April 18th. That's a drop of 30 percent from the week before. Crude imports averaged just under 5.6 million barrels a day, down seven percent from a week earlier. The four week average is down nearly seven percent from a year ago.

The Energy Department took delivery on another half million barrels of crude at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.&nbsp; Strategic stockpiles are up nearly 32 million barrels or nine percent from a year ago. Commercial crude stockpiles increased slightly last week to rise over 443 million barrels as of April 18th. Stockpiles are about five percent below the five year average for this time of year.US crude production drops again to remain below 13.5 million barrels a day for a second week in a row, after topping that average in each of the prior six weeks. The four week average and cumulative year-to-date average each drop below 13.5 million.

So far this year, well-completions remains the sole metric in the Kansas oil patch that improves on what we reported last year. Kansas adds 23 well completions this week, notching 412 so far this year, compared to 378 a year ago.

Independent Oil and Gas Service asserts that, overall, drilling activity in Kansas is down 33 percent from last year, which marked the low point for crude production in the state. This week's Kansas Rig Count is down more than 12 percent from last week. It's up 23 percent from last month, but down 30 percent from last year. Regulators have okayed 230 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to 283 a year ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
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 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, Apr. 28 John P. TretbarThe government says total US petroleum exports set a record last year for the fifth year in a row, at 6.6 million barrels per day. EIA says that's fueled mainly by diesel and jet fuel exports. Mexico and Brazil were the top customers last year.Last week, crude-oil exports retreated after a spike the week before. EIA reports 3.5 million barrels a day in US crude exports for the week through April 18th. That's a drop of 30 percent from the week before. Crude imports averaged just under 5.6 million barrels a day, down seven percent from a week earlier. The four week average is down nearly seven percent from a year ago.The Energy Department took delivery on another half million barrels of crude at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.&nbsp; Strategic stockpiles are up nearly 32 million barrels or nine percent from a year ago. Commercial crude stockpiles increased slightly last week to rise over 443 million barrels as of April 18th. Stockpiles are about five percent below the five year average for this time of year.US crude production drops again to remain below 13.5 million barrels a day for a second week in a row, after topping that average in each of the prior six weeks. The four week average and cumulative year-to-date average each drop below 13.5 million.The government says total US petroleum exports set a record last year for the fifth year in a row, at 6.6 million barrels per day. EIA says that's fueled mainly by diesel and jet fuel exports. Mexico and Brazil were the top customers last year.Last week, crude-oil exports retreated after a spike the week before. EIA reports 3.5 million barrels a day in US crude exports for the week through April 18th. That's a drop of 30 percent from the week before. Crude imports averaged just under 5.6 million barrels a day, down seven percent from a week earlier. The four week average is down nearly seven percent from a year ago.So far this year, well-completions remains the sole metric in the Kansas oil patch that improves on what we reported last year. Kansas adds 23 well completions this week, notching 412 so far this year, compared to 378 a year ago.Independent Oil and Gas Service asserts that, overall, drilling activity in Kansas is down 33 percent from last year, which marked the low point for crude production in the state. This week's Kansas Rig Count is down more than 12 percent from last week. It's up 23 percent from last month, but down 30 percent from last year. Regulators have okayed 230 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to 283 a year ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;

News from the Oil Patch: US sets another crude-oil export record

OPEC output reached its highest level last month since April 2020, and China's factory activity is slowing down. The combination sent prices plummeting Monday. The benchmark contract on the Nymex settled Friday at $73.75 per barrel, but by midday on Monday that dropped more than three percent to $71.54 per barrel, erasing two-dollar gains from last week.&nbsp; London Brent was also down more than two dollars, at $73.29. Kansas crude prices rose half a dollar on Friday. Kansas Common starts the month of August at $64.25 per barrel at CHS in McPherson. Prices averaged just over $63 for the month of July. That's up from a monthly average of $31 per barrel a year ago. The government on Friday released updated crude-oil production totals through May. The Energy Information Administration says U.S. output for the month was 348 million barrels, or 11.2 million barrels per day. That's an increase of nearly half a million barrels per day over the month before, and is up more than 1.5 million barrels per day from May of last year. EIA says total U.S. production this year through May averaged just under 10.9 million barrels per day. Kansas output for the month was 2.3 million barrels or about 75,000 barrels per day. For the third month in a row, producers in New Mexico outpaced their counterparts in North Dakota, making New Mexico the second-biggest producer in the U.S. behind Texas.&nbsp; The weekly Rig Count in Kansas from Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service shows nine drilling rigs in eastern Kansas and 23 west of Wichita, both tallies up one for the week. Drilling was underway on wells in Ellis and Russell counties, and on two leases in Stafford County. The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes was down two oil rigs and one gas rig, for a total of 488 active rigs. The count in Louisiana was down four rigs, Utah was down two while Texas was up two. There were just three new Kansas drilling permits filed last week, in Meade, Ness and Rooks counties. That brings to the total so far this year to 559 permits. That's more than double the total by the end of July last year, and just a little better than the total through July two years ago.&nbsp; Kansas operators completed just six wells last week. According to Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service all six were in Western Kansas, including one well in Ellis County. The total this year is 427 completions, compared to 575 a year ago and 823 by the end of July two years ago. The government on Wednesday reported a decline in US crude-oil inventories. The Energy Information Administration's Weekly Petroleum Status Report notes stockpiles of 435.6 million barrels through July 23, down more than four million barrels from the week before. Total motor gasoline inventories were down more than two million barrels and are roughly equal to the five year average for this time of year. US Crude production slowed down slightly last week. The government reports total output of over 11.2 million barrels per day during the week through July 23. That's down 136-thousand barrels per day from the week before, but about 94-thousand barrels per day higher than last year at this time. Domestic crude imports dropped by more than half a million barrels to six-and-a-half million per day. Educators and child-advocacy groups in New Mexico have seen first-hand just how unreliable a budget based on the price of oil can be. They're now demanding the state find a more reliable source of revenue for public education. The oil patch in New Mexico provides billions to local school districts across the state, but the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports job losses and price-drops turned a $2 BILLION state surplus into a $400 million deficit last year.&nbsp; The oil patch in Texas continues to generate tens of thousands of new job-postings, more than 12-thousand unique help-wanted ads so far this year. According to analysis by the Web site Rig Zone, 42% of those jobs were in either Houston, Midland, or Odessa, Texas. The Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners reported most of those jobs were in oil refining, followed by extraction, and machinery manufacturing. Amid what the Denver Business Journal calls Colorado's "oil-merger frenzy" comes another big sale. Whiting Petroleum is consolidating and increasing its interests in the Bakken/Three Forks shale play in North Dakota, while selling off a significant portfolio in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of Colorado. The company is already one of the biggest players in the Bakken. They're buying the new North Dakota acreage in a cash deal worth $271 million. The properties adjoin and complement Whiting’s existing operations there. Whiting is selling assets in Weld County, Colorado for $187 million in cash according to a news release. Challenges and cancellations for crude pipelines have led Canada to another shift toward rail shipments, at least the second such political shift in a decade. Canadian oil-by-rail continued a huge spike last week, increasing 12 percent from a week earlier, and up more than 42 percent from a year ago. Oil-by-rail in the U.S. was up slightly over the week before, but down from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,530 tankers hauling petroleum and petroleum products across the US during the week through July 24. That's up twelve tankers for the week but down 309 carloads or 2.9% from a year ago.&nbsp; AAR reports 8,727 oil tankers rolling across Canada, up 956 carloads for the week.

<figure>
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 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>By John P. TretbarOPEC output reached its highest level last month since April 2020, and China's factory activity is slowing down. The combination sent prices plummeting Monday. The benchmark contract on the Nymex settled Friday at $73.75 per barrel, but by midday on Monday that dropped more than three percent to $71.54 per barrel, erasing two-dollar gains from last week.&nbsp; London Brent was also down more than two dollars, at $73.29. Kansas crude prices rose half a dollar on Friday. Kansas Common starts the month of August at $64.25 per barrel at CHS in McPherson. Prices averaged just over $63 for the month of July. That's up from a monthly average of $31 per barrel a year ago. The government on Friday released updated crude-oil production totals through May. The Energy Information Administration says U.S. output for the month was 348 million barrels, or 11.2 million barrels per day. That's an increase of nearly half a million barrels per day over the month before, and is up more than 1.5 million barrels per day from May of last year. EIA says total U.S. production this year through May averaged just under 10.9 million barrels per day. Kansas output for the month was 2.3 million barrels or about 75,000 barrels per day. For the third month in a row, producers in New Mexico outpaced their counterparts in North Dakota, making New Mexico the second-biggest producer in the U.S. behind Texas.&nbsp; The weekly Rig Count in Kansas from Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service shows nine drilling rigs in eastern Kansas and 23 west of Wichita, both tallies up one for the week. Drilling was underway on wells in Ellis and Russell counties, and on two leases in Stafford County. The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes was down two oil rigs and one gas rig, for a total of 488 active rigs. The count in Louisiana was down four rigs, Utah was down two while Texas was up two. There were just three new Kansas drilling permits filed last week, in Meade, Ness and Rooks counties. That brings to the total so far this year to 559 permits. That's more than double the total by the end of July last year, and just a little better than the total through July two years ago.&nbsp; Kansas operators completed just six wells last week. According to Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service all six were in Western Kansas, including one well in Ellis County. The total this year is 427 completions, compared to 575 a year ago and 823 by the end of July two years ago. The government on Wednesday reported a decline in US crude-oil inventories. The Energy Information Administration's Weekly Petroleum Status Report notes stockpiles of 435.6 million barrels through July 23, down more than four million barrels from the week before. Total motor gasoline inventories were down more than two million barrels and are roughly equal to the five year average for this time of year. US Crude production slowed down slightly last week. The government reports total output of over 11.2 million barrels per day during the week through July 23. That's down 136-thousand barrels per day from the week before, but about 94-thousand barrels per day higher than last year at this time. Domestic crude imports dropped by more than half a million barrels to six-and-a-half million per day. Educators and child-advocacy groups in New Mexico have seen first-hand just how unreliable a budget based on the price of oil can be. They're now demanding the state find a more reliable source of revenue for public education. The oil patch in New Mexico provides billions to local school districts across the state, but the Carlsbad Current-Argus reports job losses and price-drops turned a $2 BILLION state surplus into a $400 million deficit last year.&nbsp; The oil patch in Texas continues to generate tens of thousands of new job-postings, more than 12-thousand unique help-wanted ads so far this year. According to analysis by the Web site Rig Zone, 42% of those jobs were in either Houston, Midland, or Odessa, Texas. The Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners reported most of those jobs were in oil refining, followed by extraction, and machinery manufacturing. Amid what the Denver Business Journal calls Colorado's "oil-merger frenzy" comes another big sale. Whiting Petroleum is consolidating and increasing its interests in the Bakken/Three Forks shale play in North Dakota, while selling off a significant portfolio in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of Colorado. The company is already one of the biggest players in the Bakken. They're buying the new North Dakota acreage in a cash deal worth $271 million. The properties adjoin and complement Whiting’s existing operations there. Whiting is selling assets in Weld County, Colorado for $187 million in cash according to a news release. Challenges and cancellations for crude pipelines have led Canada to another shift toward rail shipments, at least the second such political shift in a decade. Canadian oil-by-rail continued a huge spike last week, increasing 12 percent from a week earlier, and up more than 42 percent from a year ago. Oil-by-rail in the U.S. was up slightly over the week before, but down from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,530 tankers hauling petroleum and petroleum products across the US during the week through July 24. That's up twelve tankers for the week but down 309 carloads or 2.9% from a year ago.&nbsp; AAR reports 8,727 oil tankers rolling across Canada, up 956 carloads for the week.

News From the Oil Patch (8/2)

John P. Tretbar Crude futures prices dropped six percent Monday after the OPEC-Plus crude-oil exporters reached agreement with one holdout nation, and agreed to raise production. Prices dropped nearly five dollars in New York to $67.12 per barrel by lunchtime Monday. OPEC-Plus ministers agreed on Sunday to increase oil supply starting next month to cool the highest prices in more than two years. That came after an agreement that allowed the United Arab Emirates to raise its production quota. From August to the end of the year, the entire group will reintroduce to the marketplace another two million barrels per day, or about 400-thousand barrels per day each month. The cartel hopes to fully phase out its self-imposed production cuts by around September 2022. Kansas crude prices dropped by more than two dollars last week. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts this week at $62 per barrel. That's down nearly four dollars from the first of the month, but more than $23 higher than at the first of the year. High crude prices coupled with high gasoline demand pushed average gasoline prices up to $3.17 per gallon nationwide Monday, an increase of 13 cents per gallon since Memorial Day Weekend. Gasoline demand jumped nearly one million barrels per day to the highest level ever reported by the EIA. Most gas stations in Hays and Great Bend were offering a gallon of regular for $2.94 a gallon, but last week we spotted one station over three dollars, the first we've seen in about seven years.&nbsp; The Rig Count in Kansas was down slightly last week. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports seven active rigs in eastern Kansas, which is down one from last week. The count west of Wichita was unchanged at 22 active drilling rigs. Operators are preparing to spud new wells in Barton and Stafford counties. Baker Hughes reports 484 active rigs across the US. The total marked an increase of two oil rigs and three seeking natural gas. Oklahoma was up two, and Texas was down two. The benchmark Nymex futures contract settled Thursday at $71.65 [["seventy-one sixty-five"]] per barrel after nearly topping $73 earlier in the day. By Friday afternoon prices were once again over $72. Light sweet crude for August was up 37 cents to $72.02 [["seventy-two oh two"]] per barrel. London Brent gained 28 cents to $73.75 [["seventy-three seventy-five"]] per barrel. Kansas regulators okayed 20 new drilling permits last week, 535 so far this year. There are five new permits east of Wichita and 15 in Western Kansas, including one each in Barton, Russell and Stafford counties.&nbsp; Operators across the state completed 22 new wells last week, for a year-to-date total of 415 new well completions. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service says there were seven in eastern Kansas and 15 west of Wichita, including one newly-completed well in Barton County and one in Russell County. The government reported declining US crude-oil inventories for an eighth consecutive week. The Energy Information Administration says domestic stockpiles dropped by nearly eight million barrels last week and are currently about eight percent below the five-year average for this time of year. EIA said US crude-oil imports rose by 347-thousand barrels per day last week, but the four-week average remains slightly lower than the same time period last year. US crude production increased by 96-thousand barrels per day last week to just over 11.4 million barrels per day.&nbsp; Oil-by-rail shipments dropped last week. The Association of American Railroads reported 9,775 tankers hauling petroleum and petroleum products, down 252 tankers from the week before and three percent lower than the same week a year ago. Despite huge reductions during the pandemic, the U.S. continued to lead the world in total petroleum and natural-gas production last year. The Energy Information Administration reports more fossil fuel was produced here than in any other country, continuing a trend that began in 2014. The world's largest producers all saw massive drops in production last year. US output was down by about three percent from the year before. Drilling permits on federal lands are on pace this year to reach their highest levels in nearly 15 years. That comes despite efforts by the Biden Administration to slow down drilling on public lands. According to analysis from the Association Press, the government approved about 2,500 permits to drill on public and tribal lands during the first six months of the year. That includes more than 2,100 approvals since President Biden took office January 20. Some analysts are crediting the spike to industry and Republican resistance to the administration's efforts.

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 </figure>John P. Tretbar Crude futures prices dropped six percent Monday after the OPEC-Plus crude-oil exporters reached agreement with one holdout nation, and agreed to raise production. Prices dropped nearly five dollars in New York to $67.12 per barrel by lunchtime Monday. OPEC-Plus ministers agreed on Sunday to increase oil supply starting next month to cool the highest prices in more than two years. That came after an agreement that allowed the United Arab Emirates to raise its production quota. From August to the end of the year, the entire group will reintroduce to the marketplace another two million barrels per day, or about 400-thousand barrels per day each month. The cartel hopes to fully phase out its self-imposed production cuts by around September 2022. Kansas crude prices dropped by more than two dollars last week. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts this week at $62 per barrel. That's down nearly four dollars from the first of the month, but more than $23 higher than at the first of the year. High crude prices coupled with high gasoline demand pushed average gasoline prices up to $3.17 per gallon nationwide Monday, an increase of 13 cents per gallon since Memorial Day Weekend. Gasoline demand jumped nearly one million barrels per day to the highest level ever reported by the EIA. Most gas stations in Hays and Great Bend were offering a gallon of regular for $2.94 a gallon, but last week we spotted one station over three dollars, the first we've seen in about seven years.&nbsp; The Rig Count in Kansas was down slightly last week. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports seven active rigs in eastern Kansas, which is down one from last week. The count west of Wichita was unchanged at 22 active drilling rigs. Operators are preparing to spud new wells in Barton and Stafford counties. Baker Hughes reports 484 active rigs across the US. The total marked an increase of two oil rigs and three seeking natural gas. Oklahoma was up two, and Texas was down two. The benchmark Nymex futures contract settled Thursday at $71.65 [["seventy-one sixty-five"]] per barrel after nearly topping $73 earlier in the day. By Friday afternoon prices were once again over $72. Light sweet crude for August was up 37 cents to $72.02 [["seventy-two oh two"]] per barrel. London Brent gained 28 cents to $73.75 [["seventy-three seventy-five"]] per barrel. Kansas regulators okayed 20 new drilling permits last week, 535 so far this year. There are five new permits east of Wichita and 15 in Western Kansas, including one each in Barton, Russell and Stafford counties.&nbsp; Operators across the state completed 22 new wells last week, for a year-to-date total of 415 new well completions. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service says there were seven in eastern Kansas and 15 west of Wichita, including one newly-completed well in Barton County and one in Russell County. The government reported declining US crude-oil inventories for an eighth consecutive week. The Energy Information Administration says domestic stockpiles dropped by nearly eight million barrels last week and are currently about eight percent below the five-year average for this time of year. EIA said US crude-oil imports rose by 347-thousand barrels per day last week, but the four-week average remains slightly lower than the same time period last year. US crude production increased by 96-thousand barrels per day last week to just over 11.4 million barrels per day.&nbsp; Oil-by-rail shipments dropped last week. The Association of American Railroads reported 9,775 tankers hauling petroleum and petroleum products, down 252 tankers from the week before and three percent lower than the same week a year ago. Despite huge reductions during the pandemic, the U.S. continued to lead the world in total petroleum and natural-gas production last year. The Energy Information Administration reports more fossil fuel was produced here than in any other country, continuing a trend that began in 2014. The world's largest producers all saw massive drops in production last year. US output was down by about three percent from the year before. Drilling permits on federal lands are on pace this year to reach their highest levels in nearly 15 years. That comes despite efforts by the Biden Administration to slow down drilling on public lands. According to analysis from the Association Press, the government approved about 2,500 permits to drill on public and tribal lands during the first six months of the year. That includes more than 2,100 approvals since President Biden took office January 20. Some analysts are crediting the spike to industry and Republican resistance to the administration's efforts.

News From the Oil Patch (7/19)

John P. Tretbar Crude prices retreated on Tuesday after posting some big gains. Prices briefly touched highs not seen in six years, after OPEC and it's allies failed to reach an agreement on production policy. Before noon on Tuesday, WTI futures prices rose nearly two dollars, and then fell by a like amount. At one point the August contract reached $76.98 per barrel, a price not seen since November 2014. In late morning trading Tuesday, WTI was below $74, dropping $1.20 from the opening bell at $73.96 per barrel. So far this year, WTI prices have gained 57 percent. OPEC and its allies on Friday failed to come to agreement on new production policy and postponed talks indefinitely. OPEC+ took historic measures in April 2020, removing nearly 10 million barrels per day from the marketplace in an effort to support prices. Since then, the group has been slowly returning barrels to the market, while meeting on a near-monthly basis to discuss output policy. But Friday's meeting came to an end after the United Arab Emirates blocked two key votes, and members have not planned a new meeting. At CHS in McPherson, Kansas Common starts the week, and the month of July, at $65.50 per barrel, after a big jump ahead of the holiday weekend. The state benchmark ended the month of June at $63.75 which is nearly six dollars higher than at the start of the month. The average price for the month of June was $61.66 per barrel. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight uptick in the Rig Count in Kansas, with eight active rigs in the eastern half of the state and 22 west of Wichita. Both tallies were up one for the week. Baker Hughes reported 475 active drilling rigs across the country on Friday, an increase of four oil rigs and one gas rig. Colorado notched an increase of three rigs. The counts in North Dakota and Texas were each up one.&nbsp; Regulators gave their okay to 16 new drilling permits in Kansas last week, four in eastern Kansas and 12 west of Wichita. That's 483 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to just 214 through the first six months of last year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 31 completions across Kansas for the week, but just two of them were west of Wichita. That's 389 newly-completed wells so far this year. Last year's six-month total was 537, reported before most of the state's shutdown kicked in. Just seven years ago, the six-month total was over three thousand newly completed wells. The government reported the sixth consecutive weekly drop in US crude-oil inventories. For the week ending June 25, US stockpiles dropped 6.7 million barrels from the week before, to a total of just over 452 million barrels. The Energy Information Administration says US inventories are about six percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Gasoline stockpiles increased by one and a half million barrels last week. Inventories are now equal to the five-year average for this time of year. US crude-oil production topped 11 million barrels per day last week for the third week in a row. US output jumped 103-thousand barrels per day compared to the week before. Production is currently about 185-thousand barrels per day higher than the output reported a year ago. US crude imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day last week, down half a million barrels a day. The government says Imports over the last four week averaged 2.8 percent more than the same four week period last year. The current rally in oil prices is setting records for the speed of the increases. Brent crude reached $75 per barrel last week, more than double the price in November.&nbsp; In Canada they're calling it "almost too good to be true." According to The Financial Post, an oil rally this rapid has only happened three times in the last twenty years. If Canadian oil and gas companies continue to maintain their cost discipline, analysts believe they could get substantial returns, a big turnaround for the industry. According to the report, Canadian oil and gas companies are close to hitting their debt-reduction goals and could soon start allocating billions in free cash.&nbsp; Oil-by-rail totals have risen steadily each week since late April. The Association of American Railroads reported another increase for the week ending June 26, with 10,201 tankers hauling petroleum or petroleum products. That's up 416 rail cars from the week before and half a percentage point higher than a year ago. Oil-by-rail in Canada is down slightly for the week, but up more than 50% over a year ago.&nbsp; As you might expect, US energy consumption dropped dramatically last year because of the pandemic response and other factors. The government now says we saw our largest annual decline in energy use ever, a decline of 7.5%. Fossil fuels, including both petroleum for transportation and coal for electrical power, accounted for most of the decline. Fossil fuels consumption dropped last year to its lowest level since 1991. The Energy Information Administration reports non-fossil fuel sources, including nuclear power and renewable sources, rose to their highest share of the energy mix since the early 1900s.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. Tretbar Crude prices retreated on Tuesday after posting some big gains. Prices briefly touched highs not seen in six years, after OPEC and it's allies failed to reach an agreement on production policy. Before noon on Tuesday, WTI futures prices rose nearly two dollars, and then fell by a like amount. At one point the August contract reached $76.98 per barrel, a price not seen since November 2014. In late morning trading Tuesday, WTI was below $74, dropping $1.20 from the opening bell at $73.96 per barrel. So far this year, WTI prices have gained 57 percent. OPEC and its allies on Friday failed to come to agreement on new production policy and postponed talks indefinitely. OPEC+ took historic measures in April 2020, removing nearly 10 million barrels per day from the marketplace in an effort to support prices. Since then, the group has been slowly returning barrels to the market, while meeting on a near-monthly basis to discuss output policy. But Friday's meeting came to an end after the United Arab Emirates blocked two key votes, and members have not planned a new meeting. At CHS in McPherson, Kansas Common starts the week, and the month of July, at $65.50 per barrel, after a big jump ahead of the holiday weekend. The state benchmark ended the month of June at $63.75 which is nearly six dollars higher than at the start of the month. The average price for the month of June was $61.66 per barrel. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight uptick in the Rig Count in Kansas, with eight active rigs in the eastern half of the state and 22 west of Wichita. Both tallies were up one for the week. Baker Hughes reported 475 active drilling rigs across the country on Friday, an increase of four oil rigs and one gas rig. Colorado notched an increase of three rigs. The counts in North Dakota and Texas were each up one.&nbsp; Regulators gave their okay to 16 new drilling permits in Kansas last week, four in eastern Kansas and 12 west of Wichita. That's 483 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to just 214 through the first six months of last year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 31 completions across Kansas for the week, but just two of them were west of Wichita. That's 389 newly-completed wells so far this year. Last year's six-month total was 537, reported before most of the state's shutdown kicked in. Just seven years ago, the six-month total was over three thousand newly completed wells. The government reported the sixth consecutive weekly drop in US crude-oil inventories. For the week ending June 25, US stockpiles dropped 6.7 million barrels from the week before, to a total of just over 452 million barrels. The Energy Information Administration says US inventories are about six percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Gasoline stockpiles increased by one and a half million barrels last week. Inventories are now equal to the five-year average for this time of year. US crude-oil production topped 11 million barrels per day last week for the third week in a row. US output jumped 103-thousand barrels per day compared to the week before. Production is currently about 185-thousand barrels per day higher than the output reported a year ago. US crude imports averaged 6.4 million barrels per day last week, down half a million barrels a day. The government says Imports over the last four week averaged 2.8 percent more than the same four week period last year. The current rally in oil prices is setting records for the speed of the increases. Brent crude reached $75 per barrel last week, more than double the price in November.&nbsp; In Canada they're calling it "almost too good to be true." According to The Financial Post, an oil rally this rapid has only happened three times in the last twenty years. If Canadian oil and gas companies continue to maintain their cost discipline, analysts believe they could get substantial returns, a big turnaround for the industry. According to the report, Canadian oil and gas companies are close to hitting their debt-reduction goals and could soon start allocating billions in free cash.&nbsp; Oil-by-rail totals have risen steadily each week since late April. The Association of American Railroads reported another increase for the week ending June 26, with 10,201 tankers hauling petroleum or petroleum products. That's up 416 rail cars from the week before and half a percentage point higher than a year ago. Oil-by-rail in Canada is down slightly for the week, but up more than 50% over a year ago.&nbsp; As you might expect, US energy consumption dropped dramatically last year because of the pandemic response and other factors. The government now says we saw our largest annual decline in energy use ever, a decline of 7.5%. Fossil fuels, including both petroleum for transportation and coal for electrical power, accounted for most of the decline. Fossil fuels consumption dropped last year to its lowest level since 1991. The Energy Information Administration reports non-fossil fuel sources, including nuclear power and renewable sources, rose to their highest share of the energy mix since the early 1900s.

News From the Oil Patch (7/7)

The Kansas Independent Oil &amp; Gas Association announces details of this year's Convention and Trade Show in Wichita, August 15 through the 17. The event will feature former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as keynote speaker. You can still sign up for specific events, and register for a booth at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kioga.org/">www.kioga.org</a>. Crude prices remain at 32-month highs. Monday's settlement price for the benchmark Nymex crude futures contract was $73.66 per barrel. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson started the week at $62 per barrel after gaining 75 cents on Friday. Prices jumped another two dollars on Monday, with Kansas Common fetching $64 a barrel for the first time since October 8, 2018. The Rig Count in Kansas was up 13% last week, with 22 active drilling rigs in Western Kansas, up three from the week before. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service says the count east of Wichita was unchanged at four active rigs. Kansas regulators approved 24 new drilling permits across the state last week, 11 east of Wichita and 13 in Western Kansas, including one in Ellis County. That's 416 new permits so far this year. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports just ten newly completed wells last week across Kansas. That's 351 completions so far this year.&nbsp; Baker Hughes reported 470 active drilling rigs across the U.S. Friday, a net increase of eight oil rigs and one gas rig. The weekly Rotary Rig Count shows an increase of three active rigs in Wyoming. Texas and Pennsylvania were each up two, Colorado and Utah were each up one. The price gap between the world’s two most actively traded oil contracts narrowed to its lowest in more than seven months. North Sea Brent futures traded at a premium of $1.89 to WTI on Friday, the narrowest such spread since Nov. 11. The government reported a drop of more than seven million barrels in U.S. crude inventories last week. The Energy Information Administration said stockpiles are about five percent below the five-year average. Imports were up 108-thousand barrels per day last week to 6.7 million. Four-week average imports are down nearly six percent from the same period last year. U.S. crude production continued to rise last week, topping eleven million barrels per day for the second week in a row. The Energy Information Administration reports domestic output reached 11.246 million barrels per day for the week ending June 11. That's up 203-thousand barrels per day from the week before, and more than 785-thousand barrels higher than a year earlier. The last time U.S. output topped eleven million barrels per day for two weeks in a row was in late January. One barometer of oilfield activity is showing signs of improvement. The government's monthly Drilling Productivity Report shows the number of new wells drilled but uncompleted is going down in all of the major shale plays in the U.S. The nationwide total was down 3.6% from April to May, dropping by 247 drilled, and now completed, wells. Nearly half of those were in the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico. The Energy Information Administration says Permian production will increase by 56-thousand barrels per day in July, while the other six major shale regions will all show slight declines. U.S. oil-by-rail traffic was down from a week ago, but is up nearly 13% from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,638 tanker cars hauling petroleum across the country during the week ending June 12, down 525 tankers from the prior week. Canadian oil-by-rail traffic was up 669 cars week-over-week, and marked an increase of more than 25% from a year ago. A U.S. judge ordered the Biden Administration to immediately restart its oil and gas leasing program. The court sided with 13 states asking for an injunction against an executive order issued in January that stopped the leasing of public lands for oil and gas exploration. According to the judge, there are two existing laws that require the Interior Department to hold lease sales. AAA says crude prices are up 32% from the first of the year, and that has pumped up gasoline prices. Motorists are paying an average of 37% more to fill up their gas tanks than they did on January first. The auto club predicts higher prices for the rest of the month, but says we could get some relief later this summer if crude production increases. Pump prices are slightly higher on the week. Triple-A says the national average is $3.07 per gallon. The Kansas average is just over $2. The State of Colorado is considering new rules that could cost the state's energy industry billions. The Colorado Sun newspaper reports regulators are hoping to avoid paying to plug abandoned wells, by increasing the financial guarantees required of operators for each of their wells. Draft regulations released by the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission would require a financial guarantee of the full cost of plugging each well, at $78,000 each.&nbsp; The rules would cover all 50,000 of the states oil and gas wells. That comes out to $3.9 BILLION statewide. Production in North Dakota rose slightly in April, while the state's gas-capture rate fell back from it's best-ever performance the month before. Regulators in the number-two crude producing state say output averaged over 1.12 million barrels per day, up about 13-thousand barrels per day from March. The statewide gas-capture tally was 93 percent, meaning just seven percent of the natural gas produced at the state's oil wells was burned off or vented. That's well within the state's voluntary caps on flaring.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>By: John P. TretbarThe Kansas Independent Oil &amp; Gas Association announces details of this year's Convention and Trade Show in Wichita, August 15 through the 17. The event will feature former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as keynote speaker. You can still sign up for specific events, and register for a booth at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.kioga.org/">www.kioga.org</a>. Crude prices remain at 32-month highs. Monday's settlement price for the benchmark Nymex crude futures contract was $73.66 per barrel. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson started the week at $62 per barrel after gaining 75 cents on Friday. Prices jumped another two dollars on Monday, with Kansas Common fetching $64 a barrel for the first time since October 8, 2018. The Rig Count in Kansas was up 13% last week, with 22 active drilling rigs in Western Kansas, up three from the week before. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service says the count east of Wichita was unchanged at four active rigs. Kansas regulators approved 24 new drilling permits across the state last week, 11 east of Wichita and 13 in Western Kansas, including one in Ellis County. That's 416 new permits so far this year. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports just ten newly completed wells last week across Kansas. That's 351 completions so far this year.&nbsp; Baker Hughes reported 470 active drilling rigs across the U.S. Friday, a net increase of eight oil rigs and one gas rig. The weekly Rotary Rig Count shows an increase of three active rigs in Wyoming. Texas and Pennsylvania were each up two, Colorado and Utah were each up one. The price gap between the world’s two most actively traded oil contracts narrowed to its lowest in more than seven months. North Sea Brent futures traded at a premium of $1.89 to WTI on Friday, the narrowest such spread since Nov. 11. The government reported a drop of more than seven million barrels in U.S. crude inventories last week. The Energy Information Administration said stockpiles are about five percent below the five-year average. Imports were up 108-thousand barrels per day last week to 6.7 million. Four-week average imports are down nearly six percent from the same period last year. U.S. crude production continued to rise last week, topping eleven million barrels per day for the second week in a row. The Energy Information Administration reports domestic output reached 11.246 million barrels per day for the week ending June 11. That's up 203-thousand barrels per day from the week before, and more than 785-thousand barrels higher than a year earlier. The last time U.S. output topped eleven million barrels per day for two weeks in a row was in late January. One barometer of oilfield activity is showing signs of improvement. The government's monthly Drilling Productivity Report shows the number of new wells drilled but uncompleted is going down in all of the major shale plays in the U.S. The nationwide total was down 3.6% from April to May, dropping by 247 drilled, and now completed, wells. Nearly half of those were in the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico. The Energy Information Administration says Permian production will increase by 56-thousand barrels per day in July, while the other six major shale regions will all show slight declines. U.S. oil-by-rail traffic was down from a week ago, but is up nearly 13% from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,638 tanker cars hauling petroleum across the country during the week ending June 12, down 525 tankers from the prior week. Canadian oil-by-rail traffic was up 669 cars week-over-week, and marked an increase of more than 25% from a year ago. A U.S. judge ordered the Biden Administration to immediately restart its oil and gas leasing program. The court sided with 13 states asking for an injunction against an executive order issued in January that stopped the leasing of public lands for oil and gas exploration. According to the judge, there are two existing laws that require the Interior Department to hold lease sales. AAA says crude prices are up 32% from the first of the year, and that has pumped up gasoline prices. Motorists are paying an average of 37% more to fill up their gas tanks than they did on January first. The auto club predicts higher prices for the rest of the month, but says we could get some relief later this summer if crude production increases. Pump prices are slightly higher on the week. Triple-A says the national average is $3.07 per gallon. The Kansas average is just over $2. The State of Colorado is considering new rules that could cost the state's energy industry billions. The Colorado Sun newspaper reports regulators are hoping to avoid paying to plug abandoned wells, by increasing the financial guarantees required of operators for each of their wells. Draft regulations released by the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission would require a financial guarantee of the full cost of plugging each well, at $78,000 each.&nbsp; The rules would cover all 50,000 of the states oil and gas wells. That comes out to $3.9 BILLION statewide. Production in North Dakota rose slightly in April, while the state's gas-capture rate fell back from it's best-ever performance the month before. Regulators in the number-two crude producing state say output averaged over 1.12 million barrels per day, up about 13-thousand barrels per day from March. The statewide gas-capture tally was 93 percent, meaning just seven percent of the natural gas produced at the state's oil wells was burned off or vented. That's well within the state's voluntary caps on flaring.

News From the Oil Patch (6/22)

John P. Tretbar Crude prices continue to rise Monday. The benchmark Nymex contract topped $71 per barrel for the first time since October of 2018. Friday's settlement price for July crude was $70.91 per barrel, but by late morning Monday that was up to $71.68. Kansas crude prices are up a dollar and a half from a week ago and are more than three dollars higher than at the first of the month. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $61.25 per barrel, after gaining seventy-five cents on Friday. Independent Oil and Gas reports a slight uptick in its weekly Rig Count in Kansas. There are four active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, which is up one from last week, and 19 west of Wichita, which is also up one. Operators were about to spud a new well on a lease in Ellis County. There are 23 new drilling permits across Kansas this week, with nine east of Wichita and 14 in Western Kansas including one each in Barton and Russell counties.&nbsp; That's 392 new drilling permits so far this year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reported 20 newly-completed wells across Kansas for the week. There were five in eastern Kansas and 15 in the western half of the state, including one in Ellis County and two in Stafford County. Twenty percent of the wells completed in Kansas last week were dry holes. The Kansas Geological Society has recognized and named five new oil fields in Kansas. That brings the total so far this year to ten, including one new field in Ellis county. The "Legacymakers" oil field in the Lansing/Kansas-City pay zone, was tapped by Anchor Bay Petroleum on their number-one D&amp;S Farms lease. In a Web meeting hosted by the Kansas Independent Oil &amp; Gas Association last week, Harold Hamm of Continental Resources told Kansas operators to "know the story and tell the story" of the oil patch.&nbsp; Hamm says he's bullish on oil and gas despite a concerted effort by what he called "so-called greenies" and others vying for a piece of the energy industry's market share. He pointed out that nearly all of those competitors are subsidized, including the ethanol industry, solar and wind power, and alternate sources of diesel fuel. He says oil and gas aren't going anywhere anytime soon, because its an efficient use of energy. Hamm compared the policies of President Biden unfavorably with those of President Jimmy Carter, but praised President Trump for his strong position during the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Hamm warned the industry to watch the market closely before pushing production back up towards 13 million barrels per day, lest we drop the bottom out of prices again. U. S. crude-oil production once again topped eleven million barrels per day last week. The Energy Information Administration said domestic output increased more than 200-thousand barrels per day from the week before, and is within 17-thousand barrels per day from the same week a year ago. Total crude oil inventories dropped more than five million barrels last week to 474 million barrels. EIA said stockpiles are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year. Imports were up one million barrels to 6.6 million barrels per day. The four-week average is nearly two percent below the same four-weeks last year. Opponents appear to have won their ten-year battle to block expansion of the Keystone Pipeline. Following ten years of protests and shifting presidential politics, operator TC Energy announced Wednesday it is shelving the $9 BILLION Keystone XL expansion.&nbsp; The Association of American Railroads reports a slight dip in oil-by-rail traffic last week compared to the week before. But that traffic is up four percent from a year ago. In its latest Monthly Oil Report, the International Energy Agency called on the OPEC-Plus producers to increase output in order to counter higher demand in next year. This is the same agency that earlier this year called for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and an end to new investment to reach that end. IEA is also calling clean-energy investment in emerging and developing economies a top priority. The agency claimed that, based on current global economic growth expectations, demand for crude oil and petroleum products will reach pre-COVID levels by the end of the year. Royal Dutch Shell is considering what could be a $10 billion sale of U.S. shale assets. Reuters cites people familiar with the matter, reporting the sale could be for part of or all of Shell's position in the U.S. Permian Basin, mostly in Texas. Those assets accounted for about six percent of the Anglo-Dutch company’s total oil and gas output last year.&nbsp; A fiery crude-train derailment north of Seattle late last year was caused by sabotage. That's according to a union official representing the train's conductor speaking with railroad investigators. No one was hurt but 120 townspeople were evacuated last December when seven tanker cars derailed and caught fire in Custer, Washington. According to a report from radio station KUOW, a driver reported seeing two young men emerge from the tracks several minutes before the train derailed. Otherwise, the FBI has not revealed if it has any suspects. The cause won't be formally determined until several federal agencies conclude their investigations. The state is home to five refineries, which receive millions of barrels of crude by rail every week. There is a rising tide of protests involving oil-by-rail, and according to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, dozens of cases involving sabotage.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. Tretbar Crude prices continue to rise Monday. The benchmark Nymex contract topped $71 per barrel for the first time since October of 2018. Friday's settlement price for July crude was $70.91 per barrel, but by late morning Monday that was up to $71.68. Kansas crude prices are up a dollar and a half from a week ago and are more than three dollars higher than at the first of the month. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $61.25 per barrel, after gaining seventy-five cents on Friday. Independent Oil and Gas reports a slight uptick in its weekly Rig Count in Kansas. There are four active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, which is up one from last week, and 19 west of Wichita, which is also up one. Operators were about to spud a new well on a lease in Ellis County. There are 23 new drilling permits across Kansas this week, with nine east of Wichita and 14 in Western Kansas including one each in Barton and Russell counties.&nbsp; That's 392 new drilling permits so far this year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reported 20 newly-completed wells across Kansas for the week. There were five in eastern Kansas and 15 in the western half of the state, including one in Ellis County and two in Stafford County. Twenty percent of the wells completed in Kansas last week were dry holes. The Kansas Geological Society has recognized and named five new oil fields in Kansas. That brings the total so far this year to ten, including one new field in Ellis county. The "Legacymakers" oil field in the Lansing/Kansas-City pay zone, was tapped by Anchor Bay Petroleum on their number-one D&amp;S Farms lease. In a Web meeting hosted by the Kansas Independent Oil &amp; Gas Association last week, Harold Hamm of Continental Resources told Kansas operators to "know the story and tell the story" of the oil patch.&nbsp; Hamm says he's bullish on oil and gas despite a concerted effort by what he called "so-called greenies" and others vying for a piece of the energy industry's market share. He pointed out that nearly all of those competitors are subsidized, including the ethanol industry, solar and wind power, and alternate sources of diesel fuel. He says oil and gas aren't going anywhere anytime soon, because its an efficient use of energy. Hamm compared the policies of President Biden unfavorably with those of President Jimmy Carter, but praised President Trump for his strong position during the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Hamm warned the industry to watch the market closely before pushing production back up towards 13 million barrels per day, lest we drop the bottom out of prices again. U. S. crude-oil production once again topped eleven million barrels per day last week. The Energy Information Administration said domestic output increased more than 200-thousand barrels per day from the week before, and is within 17-thousand barrels per day from the same week a year ago. Total crude oil inventories dropped more than five million barrels last week to 474 million barrels. EIA said stockpiles are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year. Imports were up one million barrels to 6.6 million barrels per day. The four-week average is nearly two percent below the same four-weeks last year. Opponents appear to have won their ten-year battle to block expansion of the Keystone Pipeline. Following ten years of protests and shifting presidential politics, operator TC Energy announced Wednesday it is shelving the $9 BILLION Keystone XL expansion.&nbsp; The Association of American Railroads reports a slight dip in oil-by-rail traffic last week compared to the week before. But that traffic is up four percent from a year ago. In its latest Monthly Oil Report, the International Energy Agency called on the OPEC-Plus producers to increase output in order to counter higher demand in next year. This is the same agency that earlier this year called for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and an end to new investment to reach that end. IEA is also calling clean-energy investment in emerging and developing economies a top priority. The agency claimed that, based on current global economic growth expectations, demand for crude oil and petroleum products will reach pre-COVID levels by the end of the year. Royal Dutch Shell is considering what could be a $10 billion sale of U.S. shale assets. Reuters cites people familiar with the matter, reporting the sale could be for part of or all of Shell's position in the U.S. Permian Basin, mostly in Texas. Those assets accounted for about six percent of the Anglo-Dutch company’s total oil and gas output last year.&nbsp; A fiery crude-train derailment north of Seattle late last year was caused by sabotage. That's according to a union official representing the train's conductor speaking with railroad investigators. No one was hurt but 120 townspeople were evacuated last December when seven tanker cars derailed and caught fire in Custer, Washington. According to a report from radio station KUOW, a driver reported seeing two young men emerge from the tracks several minutes before the train derailed. Otherwise, the FBI has not revealed if it has any suspects. The cause won't be formally determined until several federal agencies conclude their investigations. The state is home to five refineries, which receive millions of barrels of crude by rail every week. There is a rising tide of protests involving oil-by-rail, and according to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, dozens of cases involving sabotage.&nbsp;

News From the Oil Patch (6/14)

By John P. Tretbar Kansas Common crude at CHS starts the week at $59.75 per barrel, the best price in McPherson since October 2018.&nbsp; That's up nearly two dollars from the first of the month and $21 higher than at the first of the year. By midday Monday the Nymex benchmark futures contract was down 16 cents from Friday's settlement, to $69.46 per barrel. London Brent reached $72.17 a barrel in intraday trading Friday, the highest price for the international benchmark since 2019. Brent prices remained above $71 Monday. Kansas crude-oil production rose 15% in March from the month before, according to a government report. But state output remained more than 11% behind March of last year. The Energy Information Administration said Kansas production reached 2.3 million barrels in March. That's about 77,000 barrels per day, compared to 67,000 barrels a day the month before and 87,000 barrels per day a year earlier. EIA reports U.S. output in March reached 11.2 million barrels per day, up 14% on the month, but down 12 percent from March 2020. After a big drop in February, crude output in Texas jumped 26% in March to 4.4 million barrels per day. The government's weekly petroleum report shows production, inventories and imports all dropped last week. U.S. operators produced 10.88 million barrels per day during the week ending May 28. That's down 168,000 barrels per day from the week before and about 300,000 barrels per day less than the same week last year. EIA said inventories dropped more than half a million barrels. Stockpiles are about three percent below the five-year seasonal average. Imports were down more than half a million barrels per day last week at 5.6 million barrels per day. EIA said over the last four weeks, average imports are slightly lower than the same four weeks last year. The Rig Count in Kansas from Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service was down one rig in the eastern half of the state and unchanged out west. Drilling was underway on one lease in Ellis County Friday. Baker Hughes reports 456 active drilling rigs across the U.S., which is down one gas rig from last week. The count in Texas was down two while New Mexico was up two. There are 18 new drilling permits in Kansas this week, including 11 in Western Kansas, to bring the total so far this year to 369 new drilling permits. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 21 newly-completed wells across Kansas, 11 of them west of Wichita. That's 321 well completions so far this year. Weekly oil-by-rail totals posted a 27% increase over last year at this time. The Association of American Railroads reports 11,163 tanker cars moving petroleum products for the week ending May 29. That's up 363 tankers from the week before. AAR says total U.S. rail traffic in May was up 28% over May of 2020. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 21 weeks of the year was up nearly 14% compared to last year. The auto club AAA says gasoline demand has jumped steadily since the end of April, dropping supply levels around the country.&nbsp; That means pump prices are likely to see fluctuation this month. The average price across the country was just over $3.04, or more than a dollar a gallon higher than a year ago. The average across Kansas was just under $2.83 per gallon.&nbsp; Filling up a 15-gallon tank locally will cost you about a dollar more than last week, a dollar less than last month, and about $17 more than a year ago at this time.&nbsp; The government says U.S. energy consumption last year dropped by a record seven percent from the year before. The Energy Information Administration sways energy use decreased for all fuels except renewable energy, which increased by two percent. Petroleum consumption last year dropped by 13%, and natural gas was down two percent. Authorities braced for protests in northern Minnesota in the final construction push to replace a crude oil pipeline. Environmental and tribal groups oppose Enbridge Energy’s ongoing effort to replace its aging Line 3, which carries Canadian crude from Alberta. It clips a corner of North Dakota on its way across northern Minnesota to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The Canadian and Wisconsin replacement segments are already carrying oil. The Minnesota segment is about 60% complete.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>By John P. Tretbar Kansas Common crude at CHS starts the week at $59.75 per barrel, the best price in McPherson since October 2018.&nbsp; That's up nearly two dollars from the first of the month and $21 higher than at the first of the year. By midday Monday the Nymex benchmark futures contract was down 16 cents from Friday's settlement, to $69.46 per barrel. London Brent reached $72.17 a barrel in intraday trading Friday, the highest price for the international benchmark since 2019. Brent prices remained above $71 Monday. Kansas crude-oil production rose 15% in March from the month before, according to a government report. But state output remained more than 11% behind March of last year. The Energy Information Administration said Kansas production reached 2.3 million barrels in March. That's about 77,000 barrels per day, compared to 67,000 barrels a day the month before and 87,000 barrels per day a year earlier. EIA reports U.S. output in March reached 11.2 million barrels per day, up 14% on the month, but down 12 percent from March 2020. After a big drop in February, crude output in Texas jumped 26% in March to 4.4 million barrels per day. The government's weekly petroleum report shows production, inventories and imports all dropped last week. U.S. operators produced 10.88 million barrels per day during the week ending May 28. That's down 168,000 barrels per day from the week before and about 300,000 barrels per day less than the same week last year. EIA said inventories dropped more than half a million barrels. Stockpiles are about three percent below the five-year seasonal average. Imports were down more than half a million barrels per day last week at 5.6 million barrels per day. EIA said over the last four weeks, average imports are slightly lower than the same four weeks last year. The Rig Count in Kansas from Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service was down one rig in the eastern half of the state and unchanged out west. Drilling was underway on one lease in Ellis County Friday. Baker Hughes reports 456 active drilling rigs across the U.S., which is down one gas rig from last week. The count in Texas was down two while New Mexico was up two. There are 18 new drilling permits in Kansas this week, including 11 in Western Kansas, to bring the total so far this year to 369 new drilling permits. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 21 newly-completed wells across Kansas, 11 of them west of Wichita. That's 321 well completions so far this year. Weekly oil-by-rail totals posted a 27% increase over last year at this time. The Association of American Railroads reports 11,163 tanker cars moving petroleum products for the week ending May 29. That's up 363 tankers from the week before. AAR says total U.S. rail traffic in May was up 28% over May of 2020. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 21 weeks of the year was up nearly 14% compared to last year. The auto club AAA says gasoline demand has jumped steadily since the end of April, dropping supply levels around the country.&nbsp; That means pump prices are likely to see fluctuation this month. The average price across the country was just over $3.04, or more than a dollar a gallon higher than a year ago. The average across Kansas was just under $2.83 per gallon.&nbsp; Filling up a 15-gallon tank locally will cost you about a dollar more than last week, a dollar less than last month, and about $17 more than a year ago at this time.&nbsp; The government says U.S. energy consumption last year dropped by a record seven percent from the year before. The Energy Information Administration sways energy use decreased for all fuels except renewable energy, which increased by two percent. Petroleum consumption last year dropped by 13%, and natural gas was down two percent. Authorities braced for protests in northern Minnesota in the final construction push to replace a crude oil pipeline. Environmental and tribal groups oppose Enbridge Energy’s ongoing effort to replace its aging Line 3, which carries Canadian crude from Alberta. It clips a corner of North Dakota on its way across northern Minnesota to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The Canadian and Wisconsin replacement segments are already carrying oil. The Minnesota segment is about 60% complete.

News From the Oil Patch (6/7)

By John P. Tretbar "OPEC+ to Increase Output" OPEC and its allies have confirmed plans to return more than two million barrels of crude oil per day to the international marketplace. Energy ministers on Tuesday said they plan to add back 350,000 barrels per day in June and 440,000 barrels per day in July, while Saudi Arabia adds back its one million barrels in additional, voluntary cuts. A technical report from the cartel Monday suggested world oil demand is set for a big rebound. Crude futures prices gained nearly four percent in morning trading Tuesday, ahead of the announcement of increased output. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week and the month of June at $56.50 per barrel. That's up a quarter from the week before, but nearly three dollars higher than a month earlier. The average price for the month of May was $55.28 per barrel. Independent Oil &amp; Gas reports four active rigs in eastern Kansas, down two for the week, and 18 west of Wichita, down one. Operators are about to spud three new wells in Ellis County, and reached total depth on two more. Drilling was underway on one lease in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reported 457 active drilling rigs across the U.S. on Friday, an increase of three oil rigs.&nbsp; The count in Texas was up four rigs, while New Mexico was down one. The national count is down 4% in the last month, but up 63% year-over-year, according to Enverus Rig Analytics. Out of 27 new drilling permits approved across Kansas last week, just three were west of Wichita. That's 351 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to 187 by the end of May last year amid the pandemic slowdown. It's seven permits short of the total through May of 2019. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reported 23 new well-completions for the week, nine in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita. That's 300 completed wells so far this year across the state. Weekly U.S. crude-oil production topped eleven million barrels per day for the first time in five weeks, increasing 92-thousand barrels per day from the week before. The government reported a slight drop in imports and inventories. For the week ending May 21, domestic stockpiles dropped 1.7 million barrels to just over 484 million. That's about two percent below the five-year seasonal average. Domestic gasoline stockpiles dropped by 1.7 million barrels last week, and are now about three percent below the five-year average. Crude imports were down 138-thousand barrels to 6.3 million barrels per day. The four-week average for U.S. imports is down slightly from a year ago. Memorial Day weekend gasoline prices were the highest in seven years. The auto club AAA says the national average Thursday was just over $3.04 per gallon, more than a dollar higher than last year. The average across Kansas was $2.82 per gallon. Prices held steady locally, with most stations in Hays and Great Bend posting $2.74 per gallon. Your 15-gallon fill-up cost nearly $17 more than it did last Memorial Day. Oil-by-rail traffic was down last week but remains nearly ten percent above the totals from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reported 10,800 tanker cars moving petroleum or petroleum products for the week ending May 22. That's down 430 cars from the week before but it marks a 9.8 percent increase over the same week last year. An oil-drillers group in Canada is raising its drilling forecast for the year. The Petroleum Services Association of Canada, raised it's annual forecast to 3,600 new wells this year, up 7.5 percent from their prediction at the start of the year. A report in the Financial Post credits higher oil demand, support for higher prices, and a big government fund to keep service workers busy decommissioning wells. Drilling in Canada was down 30% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to a year earlier. But the group expects drilling from April to December to double that for the same 9-month period in 2020. The world's largest energy companies are increasingly being forced to rethink their positions on climate change, after historic defeats in the boardroom and in the courtroom. Exxon Mobil lost at least two board seats to a small activist hedge fund making green demands in what was the most expensive proxy fight in history. Vote tallies for five more seats on the Exxon board were too close to call. Shareholders at Chevron backed a call for that company to cut emissions from the end-use of its products. &nbsp;61 percent of voting stockholders supported the petition. And, a judge has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to slash emissions from the end use of its products by 45% in less than ten years. Shell said it would appeal, and analysts said the decision is not the final word in the case. A new government report suggests a huge drop in US electricity consumption last summer, except at home, where usage spiked. Total usage was the lowest in five years. Commercial and Industrial consumption dropped to the lowest level since 2004. But residential consumption was through the roof. The Energy Information Administration says near-record high temperatures, along with more people spending more time at home, prompted all-time record high consumption among residential users. This year, EIA predicts growth in consumption among commercial and industrial customers, and a decline in residential use. The state-run oil company of Mexico is buying the remaining interest in a refinery complex it operates in Houston. For nearly thirty years, PEMEX and Shell have jointly operated the Deer Park facility in a fifty-fifty partnership. Now Pemex is buying out its partner for $596 million in cash, debt, and inventory. Shell officials said they had not planned on marketing their half of the refinery, but reached the agreement following an unsolicited offer.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>By John P. Tretbar "OPEC+ to Increase Output" OPEC and its allies have confirmed plans to return more than two million barrels of crude oil per day to the international marketplace. Energy ministers on Tuesday said they plan to add back 350,000 barrels per day in June and 440,000 barrels per day in July, while Saudi Arabia adds back its one million barrels in additional, voluntary cuts. A technical report from the cartel Monday suggested world oil demand is set for a big rebound. Crude futures prices gained nearly four percent in morning trading Tuesday, ahead of the announcement of increased output. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week and the month of June at $56.50 per barrel. That's up a quarter from the week before, but nearly three dollars higher than a month earlier. The average price for the month of May was $55.28 per barrel. Independent Oil &amp; Gas reports four active rigs in eastern Kansas, down two for the week, and 18 west of Wichita, down one. Operators are about to spud three new wells in Ellis County, and reached total depth on two more. Drilling was underway on one lease in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reported 457 active drilling rigs across the U.S. on Friday, an increase of three oil rigs.&nbsp; The count in Texas was up four rigs, while New Mexico was down one. The national count is down 4% in the last month, but up 63% year-over-year, according to Enverus Rig Analytics. Out of 27 new drilling permits approved across Kansas last week, just three were west of Wichita. That's 351 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to 187 by the end of May last year amid the pandemic slowdown. It's seven permits short of the total through May of 2019. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reported 23 new well-completions for the week, nine in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita. That's 300 completed wells so far this year across the state. Weekly U.S. crude-oil production topped eleven million barrels per day for the first time in five weeks, increasing 92-thousand barrels per day from the week before. The government reported a slight drop in imports and inventories. For the week ending May 21, domestic stockpiles dropped 1.7 million barrels to just over 484 million. That's about two percent below the five-year seasonal average. Domestic gasoline stockpiles dropped by 1.7 million barrels last week, and are now about three percent below the five-year average. Crude imports were down 138-thousand barrels to 6.3 million barrels per day. The four-week average for U.S. imports is down slightly from a year ago. Memorial Day weekend gasoline prices were the highest in seven years. The auto club AAA says the national average Thursday was just over $3.04 per gallon, more than a dollar higher than last year. The average across Kansas was $2.82 per gallon. Prices held steady locally, with most stations in Hays and Great Bend posting $2.74 per gallon. Your 15-gallon fill-up cost nearly $17 more than it did last Memorial Day. Oil-by-rail traffic was down last week but remains nearly ten percent above the totals from a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reported 10,800 tanker cars moving petroleum or petroleum products for the week ending May 22. That's down 430 cars from the week before but it marks a 9.8 percent increase over the same week last year. An oil-drillers group in Canada is raising its drilling forecast for the year. The Petroleum Services Association of Canada, raised it's annual forecast to 3,600 new wells this year, up 7.5 percent from their prediction at the start of the year. A report in the Financial Post credits higher oil demand, support for higher prices, and a big government fund to keep service workers busy decommissioning wells. Drilling in Canada was down 30% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to a year earlier. But the group expects drilling from April to December to double that for the same 9-month period in 2020. The world's largest energy companies are increasingly being forced to rethink their positions on climate change, after historic defeats in the boardroom and in the courtroom. Exxon Mobil lost at least two board seats to a small activist hedge fund making green demands in what was the most expensive proxy fight in history. Vote tallies for five more seats on the Exxon board were too close to call. Shareholders at Chevron backed a call for that company to cut emissions from the end-use of its products. &nbsp;61 percent of voting stockholders supported the petition. And, a judge has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to slash emissions from the end use of its products by 45% in less than ten years. Shell said it would appeal, and analysts said the decision is not the final word in the case. A new government report suggests a huge drop in US electricity consumption last summer, except at home, where usage spiked. Total usage was the lowest in five years. Commercial and Industrial consumption dropped to the lowest level since 2004. But residential consumption was through the roof. The Energy Information Administration says near-record high temperatures, along with more people spending more time at home, prompted all-time record high consumption among residential users. This year, EIA predicts growth in consumption among commercial and industrial customers, and a decline in residential use. The state-run oil company of Mexico is buying the remaining interest in a refinery complex it operates in Houston. For nearly thirty years, PEMEX and Shell have jointly operated the Deer Park facility in a fifty-fifty partnership. Now Pemex is buying out its partner for $596 million in cash, debt, and inventory. Shell officials said they had not planned on marketing their half of the refinery, but reached the agreement following an unsolicited offer.

News from the Oil Patch (6/1)

U.S. crude futures prices were up three percent Monday. The Nymex near-month contract for light sweet crude settled Friday at $63.58 per barrel, and by lunchtime Monday was up nearly two dollars at &nbsp;$65.46. London Brent rose to $68.14 per barrel, a gain of $1.70. The Kansas benchmark jumped a dollar and a half on Friday, matching the price posted May first. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $53.75 per barrel, which is still nearly two dollars below the price a week ago. U.S. gasoline average prices were up 17 cents per gallon over a month ago, and up more than a dollar a gallon from a year ago. A gallon of regular was going for $2.74 at most stations in Hays and Great Bend, where your 15-gallon fill-up was a dime cheaper than a week ago.&nbsp; The average across Kansas was just over $2.84.&nbsp; AAA said prices have stabilized following the recent pipeline closure, but warned of fluctuating prices leading up to the holiday weekend. The auto club said motorists will be greeted with the most expensive Memorial Day Weekend gas prices since 2014.&nbsp; There are 30 new drilling permits across Kansas this week, 18 in the eastern half of the state and 12 west of Wichita, including one in Ellis County and two in Stafford County. That's 324 new drilling permits so far this year. Operators in Kansas have completed 12 new wells, four of them east of Wichita and eight in Western Kansas, including one well in Barton County. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 277 well completions so far this year. The weekly rig counts are flat on the month but up 54% year-over-year. Enverus Rig Analytics reports the totals in North Dakota reached a one-year high, calling that the first sign that the Bakken shale play is recovering from the downturn. Baker Hughes on Friday reported 455 active rigs across the U.S., noting an increase of four oil rigs. The count in Oklahoma was up four rigs, which Texas was down two. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports six active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, up two for the week, and 19 west of Wichita, which is unchanged. Drilling was underway on leases in Ellis and Russell counties, and operators are about to spud a new well in Stafford County. The government on Wednesday said domestic crude inventories rose by more than a million barrels last week to 486 million barrels. That's about one percent below the five-year seasonal average. Total gasoline inventories dropped by two million barrels last week and are about two percent below the five year seasonal average.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reported a slight increase in U.S. crude-oil production last week. Output rose five thousand barrels per day but was still just short of eleven million barrels per day. A year ago, production was over eleven-and-a-half million. EIA reported average imports of 6.4 million barrels per day last week, an increase of 900-thousand barrels per day. The four-week average &nbsp;is nearly 11% higher than the same four-week period last year. Domestic oil-by-rail shipments were up nearly 15% over last year. The Association of American Railroads reported 11,230 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the week ending May 15, which is up by 1,107 tanker cars over the week before. Canadian oil-by-rail traffic was up more than 34% year-over-year. The state of New Mexico brought in a whopping $109 million in royalties from oil and gas production on State Trust Land. A news release from the State Land Office says the record haul goes into New Mexico's Land Grant Permanent Fund, to underwrite public schools, hospitals and universities. A report from Bloomberg shows a wide array of industries and political causes hoping to take advantage of the recent pipeline cyberattack. Many oil-industry groups called for bigger investment in fossil-fuel infrastructure, including refineries and the previously-canceled Keystone Pipeline. Environmentalists said the key is more electric vehicles on the road and solar panels on the grid. One conservative think tank called the outage a wake-up call for pipeline protests to stop. Even a coal advocacy group got into the act, pointing out that they don't use pipelines. A federal judge on Friday said he will not force the closure of the embattled Dakota Access pipeline while regulators conduct a new environmental analysis. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg said &nbsp;the Native tribes fighting for closure had not shown irreparable harm based on the threat of an oil spill. That ruling could be appealed.&nbsp; Dakota Access has been shipping oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois for four years. The frenzy of mergers and acquisitions in the oil patch continues following a sustained recovery in prices. Cabot Oil and Gas agreed to merge with Cimarex [["SIM-er-ex"]] Energy in an all-stock deal valued at nearly seven and a half billion dollars. Cabot operates in the northeastern US, and Cimarex is a mid-tier driller in Texas and Oklahoma. Bloomberg reports the merger will lead to the elimination of about $100 million in annual costs. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday joined a chorus of diplomats disputing Iran's claims that oil sanctions could soon be lifted. Iran's president last week said the United States was ready to lift trade sanctions, although a senior Iranian official contradicted him and European diplomats said difficult issues remained. Blinken says he has not seen Iran's compliance with nuclear commitments needed to move forward with the Vienna deal. According to reporting by Reuters, refineries in India and at least one in Europe were re-evaluating purchases to make way for Iran's crude during the second half of this year. &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>By John P. TretbarU.S. crude futures prices were up three percent Monday. The Nymex near-month contract for light sweet crude settled Friday at $63.58 per barrel, and by lunchtime Monday was up nearly two dollars at &nbsp;$65.46. London Brent rose to $68.14 per barrel, a gain of $1.70. The Kansas benchmark jumped a dollar and a half on Friday, matching the price posted May first. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $53.75 per barrel, which is still nearly two dollars below the price a week ago. U.S. gasoline average prices were up 17 cents per gallon over a month ago, and up more than a dollar a gallon from a year ago. A gallon of regular was going for $2.74 at most stations in Hays and Great Bend, where your 15-gallon fill-up was a dime cheaper than a week ago.&nbsp; The average across Kansas was just over $2.84.&nbsp; AAA said prices have stabilized following the recent pipeline closure, but warned of fluctuating prices leading up to the holiday weekend. The auto club said motorists will be greeted with the most expensive Memorial Day Weekend gas prices since 2014.&nbsp; There are 30 new drilling permits across Kansas this week, 18 in the eastern half of the state and 12 west of Wichita, including one in Ellis County and two in Stafford County. That's 324 new drilling permits so far this year. Operators in Kansas have completed 12 new wells, four of them east of Wichita and eight in Western Kansas, including one well in Barton County. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 277 well completions so far this year. The weekly rig counts are flat on the month but up 54% year-over-year. Enverus Rig Analytics reports the totals in North Dakota reached a one-year high, calling that the first sign that the Bakken shale play is recovering from the downturn. Baker Hughes on Friday reported 455 active rigs across the U.S., noting an increase of four oil rigs. The count in Oklahoma was up four rigs, which Texas was down two. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports six active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, up two for the week, and 19 west of Wichita, which is unchanged. Drilling was underway on leases in Ellis and Russell counties, and operators are about to spud a new well in Stafford County. The government on Wednesday said domestic crude inventories rose by more than a million barrels last week to 486 million barrels. That's about one percent below the five-year seasonal average. Total gasoline inventories dropped by two million barrels last week and are about two percent below the five year seasonal average.&nbsp; The Energy Information Administration reported a slight increase in U.S. crude-oil production last week. Output rose five thousand barrels per day but was still just short of eleven million barrels per day. A year ago, production was over eleven-and-a-half million. EIA reported average imports of 6.4 million barrels per day last week, an increase of 900-thousand barrels per day. The four-week average &nbsp;is nearly 11% higher than the same four-week period last year. Domestic oil-by-rail shipments were up nearly 15% over last year. The Association of American Railroads reported 11,230 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the week ending May 15, which is up by 1,107 tanker cars over the week before. Canadian oil-by-rail traffic was up more than 34% year-over-year. The state of New Mexico brought in a whopping $109 million in royalties from oil and gas production on State Trust Land. A news release from the State Land Office says the record haul goes into New Mexico's Land Grant Permanent Fund, to underwrite public schools, hospitals and universities. A report from Bloomberg shows a wide array of industries and political causes hoping to take advantage of the recent pipeline cyberattack. Many oil-industry groups called for bigger investment in fossil-fuel infrastructure, including refineries and the previously-canceled Keystone Pipeline. Environmentalists said the key is more electric vehicles on the road and solar panels on the grid. One conservative think tank called the outage a wake-up call for pipeline protests to stop. Even a coal advocacy group got into the act, pointing out that they don't use pipelines. A federal judge on Friday said he will not force the closure of the embattled Dakota Access pipeline while regulators conduct a new environmental analysis. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg said &nbsp;the Native tribes fighting for closure had not shown irreparable harm based on the threat of an oil spill. That ruling could be appealed.&nbsp; Dakota Access has been shipping oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois for four years. The frenzy of mergers and acquisitions in the oil patch continues following a sustained recovery in prices. Cabot Oil and Gas agreed to merge with Cimarex [["SIM-er-ex"]] Energy in an all-stock deal valued at nearly seven and a half billion dollars. Cabot operates in the northeastern US, and Cimarex is a mid-tier driller in Texas and Oklahoma. Bloomberg reports the merger will lead to the elimination of about $100 million in annual costs. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday joined a chorus of diplomats disputing Iran's claims that oil sanctions could soon be lifted. Iran's president last week said the United States was ready to lift trade sanctions, although a senior Iranian official contradicted him and European diplomats said difficult issues remained. Blinken says he has not seen Iran's compliance with nuclear commitments needed to move forward with the Vienna deal. According to reporting by Reuters, refineries in India and at least one in Europe were re-evaluating purchases to make way for Iran's crude during the second half of this year. &nbsp;

News From the Oil Patch (5/24)

John P. Tretbar Monday's gasoline prices are the highest in six years at over $3.04 per gallon. The auto club AAA says analysts expected three-dollar gas leading up to the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline brought a spike weeks ahead of the holiday. The average across Kansas was up seven cents a gallon from a week ago. In Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, where supplies were strained due to the pipeline shutdown, prices jumped as much as 21 cents in matter of days. With the pipeline back in operation, Triple-A says prices in these states and the national average have stabilized since the end of last week.&nbsp; Crude futures were rising on Monday with the international benchmark closing in on its best settlement in two and a half years. In afternoon trading Monday, London Brent was up 84 cents to $69.55 per barrel.&nbsp;Brent crude has only reached $70 a barrel once in the last two and a half years (on March 15, 2021).&nbsp;The Nymex near-month contract for light sweet crude settled Friday at $65.37 and by Monday afternoon was up to $66.33 per barrel.

CORRECTED 1 p.m. Tuesday&nbsp;to clarify that Brent crude reached $70 once in the last two and a half years. Kansas crude prices are up a quarter per barrel on the week and nearly two dollars higher than at the first of the month. Kansas Common at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $55.50 per barrel.&nbsp; Drilling activity in Kansas is up slightly. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports the rig count in eastern Kansas was up one at four active drilling rigs. The count west of Wichita was unchanged at 19 rigs. Drilling was underway on leases in Barton and Russell counties, and they're about to spud a new well in Stafford County. Operators reached total depth at three wells in Barton County and one each in Ellis and Stafford counties. Baker Hughes reported 453 active drilling rigs across the US. Friday, noting an increase of eight oil rigs. According to Enverus Rig Analytics, this week's rig count is up three percent on the month and up 52% year-over-year.&nbsp; Kansas regulators approved ten new drilling permits last week, 294 so far this year. There are five new permits east of Wichita and five in Western Kansas, with one of those in Ellis County. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports added 30 new completed wells last week to the annual total of 265. Operators completed 14 wells in eastern Kansas and 16 west of Wichita, including one in Barton County. The government reported a slight uptick in U.S. crude production last week to just over 10.9 million barrels per day, up 94-thousand barrels per day from the week before. Average domestic crude inventories dropped by nearly half a million barrels last week. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles are about two percent below the five-year seasonal average. U.S. imports averaged five and a half million barrels per day, up 37-thousand barrels per day from the week before. The four-week average is up 7.6% over the same four weeks last year. Oil-by-rail shipments were down for the week but up six percent higher than the same week last year. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,123 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the week ending May 8th, down 848 tankers from the week before. Lawmakers in Texas are playing hardball with companies that cut ties with the fossil fuel industry. New legislation would require state entities including pension funds and the state's huge school endowment to divest from companies that refuse to invest in or do business with fossil fuel-based energy companies.&nbsp;The bill awaits conference committee approval to send it to the governor. One of the long-term effects of last year's slowdown in production was a slowdown pipeline speeds because of reduced volumes. Now comes word that nearly half of all oil pipelines out of the biggest oilfield in the country could be empty by the end of the year, and the operators began offering discounts to keep the crude flowing. Reuters reports new pipelines are coming online, driving total pipeline usage in the Permian basin down, despite increased production there. Utilization is expected to drop to 57% in the fourth quarter, much lower than the low point of 70% during the last market bust in 2016. The top three Permian pipeline companies are offering discounts to entice shippers and stem the fall in volumes. An issue playing out in state after state is heating up in North Dakota, where one landowner group is calling it the single largest issue in energy in the world. Lawmakers in North Dakota have passed another "pore space" law, and are once again bracing for a legal challenge. Such laws essentially regulate huge, empty spaces underground, where energy producers can store natural gas. Industry groups say landowners are blowing the issue out of proportion. They argue the new regulations would actually pay windfalls to the landowners who own property atop those big holes. The laws allow storage projects to proceed if as few as 60% of the affected landowners give their consent. The landowner groups are fighting for the other 40%. Regulators in North Dakota say the number-two crude-producing state pumped over 1.1 million barrels per day in March, up 25-thousand barrels per day from the month before. The March gas-capture rate of 94% is the best ever reported by the Department of Mineral Resources. That means they flared or vented only about six percent. This marks a dramatic improvement over the last ten years. In September of 2011, operators in the state flared 36% of the natural gas produced at oil wells, the historic high. At the time, flaring activity was visible from space.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>News from the Oil Patch, May 17John P. Tretbar Monday's gasoline prices are the highest in six years at over $3.04 per gallon. The auto club AAA says analysts expected three-dollar gas leading up to the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline brought a spike weeks ahead of the holiday. The average across Kansas was up seven cents a gallon from a week ago. In Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, where supplies were strained due to the pipeline shutdown, prices jumped as much as 21 cents in matter of days. With the pipeline back in operation, Triple-A says prices in these states and the national average have stabilized since the end of last week.&nbsp; Crude futures were rising on Monday with the international benchmark closing in on its best settlement in two and a half years. In afternoon trading Monday, London Brent was up 84 cents to $69.55 per barrel.&nbsp;Brent crude has only reached $70 a barrel once in the last two and a half years (on March 15, 2021).&nbsp;The Nymex near-month contract for light sweet crude settled Friday at $65.37 and by Monday afternoon was up to $66.33 per barrel.CORRECTED 1 p.m. Tuesday&nbsp;to clarify that Brent crude reached $70 once in the last two and a half years. Kansas crude prices are up a quarter per barrel on the week and nearly two dollars higher than at the first of the month. Kansas Common at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $55.50 per barrel.&nbsp; Drilling activity in Kansas is up slightly. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports the rig count in eastern Kansas was up one at four active drilling rigs. The count west of Wichita was unchanged at 19 rigs. Drilling was underway on leases in Barton and Russell counties, and they're about to spud a new well in Stafford County. Operators reached total depth at three wells in Barton County and one each in Ellis and Stafford counties. Baker Hughes reported 453 active drilling rigs across the US. Friday, noting an increase of eight oil rigs. According to Enverus Rig Analytics, this week's rig count is up three percent on the month and up 52% year-over-year.&nbsp; Kansas regulators approved ten new drilling permits last week, 294 so far this year. There are five new permits east of Wichita and five in Western Kansas, with one of those in Ellis County. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports added 30 new completed wells last week to the annual total of 265. Operators completed 14 wells in eastern Kansas and 16 west of Wichita, including one in Barton County. The government reported a slight uptick in U.S. crude production last week to just over 10.9 million barrels per day, up 94-thousand barrels per day from the week before. Average domestic crude inventories dropped by nearly half a million barrels last week. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles are about two percent below the five-year seasonal average. U.S. imports averaged five and a half million barrels per day, up 37-thousand barrels per day from the week before. The four-week average is up 7.6% over the same four weeks last year. Oil-by-rail shipments were down for the week but up six percent higher than the same week last year. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,123 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the week ending May 8th, down 848 tankers from the week before. Lawmakers in Texas are playing hardball with companies that cut ties with the fossil fuel industry. New legislation would require state entities including pension funds and the state's huge school endowment to divest from companies that refuse to invest in or do business with fossil fuel-based energy companies.&nbsp;The bill awaits conference committee approval to send it to the governor. One of the long-term effects of last year's slowdown in production was a slowdown pipeline speeds because of reduced volumes. Now comes word that nearly half of all oil pipelines out of the biggest oilfield in the country could be empty by the end of the year, and the operators began offering discounts to keep the crude flowing. Reuters reports new pipelines are coming online, driving total pipeline usage in the Permian basin down, despite increased production there. Utilization is expected to drop to 57% in the fourth quarter, much lower than the low point of 70% during the last market bust in 2016. The top three Permian pipeline companies are offering discounts to entice shippers and stem the fall in volumes. An issue playing out in state after state is heating up in North Dakota, where one landowner group is calling it the single largest issue in energy in the world. Lawmakers in North Dakota have passed another "pore space" law, and are once again bracing for a legal challenge. Such laws essentially regulate huge, empty spaces underground, where energy producers can store natural gas. Industry groups say landowners are blowing the issue out of proportion. They argue the new regulations would actually pay windfalls to the landowners who own property atop those big holes. The laws allow storage projects to proceed if as few as 60% of the affected landowners give their consent. The landowner groups are fighting for the other 40%. Regulators in North Dakota say the number-two crude-producing state pumped over 1.1 million barrels per day in March, up 25-thousand barrels per day from the month before. The March gas-capture rate of 94% is the best ever reported by the Department of Mineral Resources. That means they flared or vented only about six percent. This marks a dramatic improvement over the last ten years. In September of 2011, operators in the state flared 36% of the natural gas produced at oil wells, the historic high. At the time, flaring activity was visible from space.

News From the Oil Patch (5/17)

U.S. Crude futures prices hovered around $62 a barrel by midday Monday, after dropping below sixty-one dollars earlier in the day. According to MarketWatch, many traders are betting the OPEC+ alliance will delay production increases this week based on the rise in COVID-19 cases in India. The alliance kept its demand forecast unchanged on Monday, but acknowledged that India posed a growing risk to global demand recovery. Settlement prices in New York last week ranged from sixty-one to sixty-two dollars per barrel. Prices in London were just short of $66. Prices in Kansas are holding steady. Kansas Common starts the week at $52.50 per barrel at CHS in McPherson. The Kansas benchmark this month has ranged from $49.50 on April 9, to $53.75 per barrel a week later. The auto club AAA reports national gasoline prices held fairly steady this month, holding within a penny or two of $2.86 per gallon. Analysts say the current 85% use-rate of American refineries is helping balance higher crude prices. Twenty-seven state averages held steady while another 16 saw pump prices change by only one or two cents, according to AAA. The national average was just over $2.88 Thursday. Kansas prices were about 16 cents cheaper. Filling up a 15-gallon tank will cost you over ten dollars more than six months ago and nearly twenty dollars more than a year ago. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight improvement in the weekly Rig Count in Kansas. There are 16 active drilling rigs in Western Kansas, up three from last week. The count east of Wichita is down one at six rigs. Baker Hughes' national Rotary Rig Count notes 438 active rigs, down one oil rig from last week. The count in Texas was down three rigs. Regulators approved the first new drilling permits in Ellis County since early February, among 24 new drilling permits statewide last week. There are two new permits in Barton County, five in Ellis County and one each in Russell and Stafford counties.&nbsp; Regulators have okayed 245 new drilling permits across Kansas so far this year compared to just 171 by this time last year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 13 newly-completed wells across Kansas last week, 214 so far this year.&nbsp; Crude inventories rose last week, after three weeks of declines. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles increased 600-thousand barrels to 493 million. Inventories are about one percent above the five year seasonal average. Refineries operated at 85% of capacity last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic production increased by 89-thousand barrels to once again top eleven million barrels per day for the week ending April 16. Year-ago production totals averaged over 12 million barrels per day. The government reports U.S. crude-oil imports dropped by nearly half a million barrels per day last week to 5.4 million. The four-week rolling average is up about five percent from a year ago. Oil-by-rail was down slightly from a week ago and a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,829 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the week ending April 17. That's down 597 tankers for the week and a 1.1% drop from a year ago. The year-to-date total is down 13% from the same total a year ago. The government says air travel in the U.S. is picking up, and that could impact crude prices. Air passenger traffic is a barometer of jet fuel demand, which has been in the cellar for the better part of a year. The Energy Information Administration says the tallies in March for passenger traffic reached the highest monthly average since the onset of the pandemic. EIA says the numbers so far this month are even better, but remain at just over half of the totals reported in February of last year. The average fell from 2.2 million air passengers per day in February of 2020, to just 100-thousand passengers per day in April, when the impact on air travel was at its highest. Since then, the tally has slowly increased to 1.2 million per day in March. The oil patch in Colorado was beset by low prices and new laws last year. State regulators now say crude production dropped nearly 11 percent in 2020 from the record-setting year the year before. Crude output reached 171.5 million barrels last year according to online totals from the Oil &amp; Gas Conservation Commission. Under a new state law, local communities in Colorado have greater power to block drilling, and state regulators have a mandate to prioritize health and the environment. Output from the number-two crude producing state declined slightly in February. Regulators say production in North Dakota dropped by about 64-thousand barrels to just over one million barrels per day. Their gas-capture rate dropped by two percent, but still exceeds the anti-flaring goals set by the state. The Wall Street Journal reported on a major new undertaking by BP to end routine flaring of natural gas in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. The company plans to spend $1.3 billion to build a network of pipelines and other infrastructure to collect and capture the natural gas produced at its oil wells. If all goes as planned, the firm says it hopes to end routine flaring by 2025. The burning of gas in this way is prevalent in the Permian because most producers there drill for more profitable oil and often incinerate or vent into the air the gas that comes as a byproduct. A new government report suggests some big production increases are on the way. The Energy Information Administration predicts output increases in the Permian Basin, which dwarf the declines expected in four other shale-oil plays, some of which will post declines. Total shale production in May is now expected to increase by 13,000 barrels to 7.6 million barrels per day. But Permian Basin production is expected to top 4.46 million barrels per day in May, an increase of 52,000 barrels per day over expected April output. EIA also reported a big drop in the number of drilled but uncompleted wells, reflected in each of the seven major shale plays. That added 177 new completed oil wells to the energy mix last month. Shale production now accounts for about two-thirds of all US crude output. One of the Emirates on the Persian Gulf is challenging the U.S. Justice Department's seizure of crude oil which the government said violated Iran sanctions. A company owned by the Emir of Fujaira filed papers in US court to dismiss a forfeiture complaint. Lloyd's Maritime Intelligence reports the tanker resumed normal trading after the cargo was discharged and seized in Houston. Hundreds of thousands of barrels await a series of US legal challenges. French Oil giant Total has signed a deal with officials in the African nation of Uganda which could make the country a significant crude producer and exporter. The company expects production to peak at 230-thousand barrels per day, which would rank it among the top African producers in OPEC. Officials also announced an agreement to build a 900 mile pipeline to connect newly-discovered oil fields in Western Uganda with the Indian Ocean and international markets.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. TretbarU.S. Crude futures prices hovered around $62 a barrel by midday Monday, after dropping below sixty-one dollars earlier in the day. According to MarketWatch, many traders are betting the OPEC+ alliance will delay production increases this week based on the rise in COVID-19 cases in India. The alliance kept its demand forecast unchanged on Monday, but acknowledged that India posed a growing risk to global demand recovery. Settlement prices in New York last week ranged from sixty-one to sixty-two dollars per barrel. Prices in London were just short of $66. Prices in Kansas are holding steady. Kansas Common starts the week at $52.50 per barrel at CHS in McPherson. The Kansas benchmark this month has ranged from $49.50 on April 9, to $53.75 per barrel a week later. The auto club AAA reports national gasoline prices held fairly steady this month, holding within a penny or two of $2.86 per gallon. Analysts say the current 85% use-rate of American refineries is helping balance higher crude prices. Twenty-seven state averages held steady while another 16 saw pump prices change by only one or two cents, according to AAA. The national average was just over $2.88 Thursday. Kansas prices were about 16 cents cheaper. Filling up a 15-gallon tank will cost you over ten dollars more than six months ago and nearly twenty dollars more than a year ago. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight improvement in the weekly Rig Count in Kansas. There are 16 active drilling rigs in Western Kansas, up three from last week. The count east of Wichita is down one at six rigs. Baker Hughes' national Rotary Rig Count notes 438 active rigs, down one oil rig from last week. The count in Texas was down three rigs. Regulators approved the first new drilling permits in Ellis County since early February, among 24 new drilling permits statewide last week. There are two new permits in Barton County, five in Ellis County and one each in Russell and Stafford counties.&nbsp; Regulators have okayed 245 new drilling permits across Kansas so far this year compared to just 171 by this time last year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 13 newly-completed wells across Kansas last week, 214 so far this year.&nbsp; Crude inventories rose last week, after three weeks of declines. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles increased 600-thousand barrels to 493 million. Inventories are about one percent above the five year seasonal average. Refineries operated at 85% of capacity last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic production increased by 89-thousand barrels to once again top eleven million barrels per day for the week ending April 16. Year-ago production totals averaged over 12 million barrels per day. The government reports U.S. crude-oil imports dropped by nearly half a million barrels per day last week to 5.4 million. The four-week rolling average is up about five percent from a year ago. Oil-by-rail was down slightly from a week ago and a year ago. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,829 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the week ending April 17. That's down 597 tankers for the week and a 1.1% drop from a year ago. The year-to-date total is down 13% from the same total a year ago. The government says air travel in the U.S. is picking up, and that could impact crude prices. Air passenger traffic is a barometer of jet fuel demand, which has been in the cellar for the better part of a year. The Energy Information Administration says the tallies in March for passenger traffic reached the highest monthly average since the onset of the pandemic. EIA says the numbers so far this month are even better, but remain at just over half of the totals reported in February of last year. The average fell from 2.2 million air passengers per day in February of 2020, to just 100-thousand passengers per day in April, when the impact on air travel was at its highest. Since then, the tally has slowly increased to 1.2 million per day in March. The oil patch in Colorado was beset by low prices and new laws last year. State regulators now say crude production dropped nearly 11 percent in 2020 from the record-setting year the year before. Crude output reached 171.5 million barrels last year according to online totals from the Oil &amp; Gas Conservation Commission. Under a new state law, local communities in Colorado have greater power to block drilling, and state regulators have a mandate to prioritize health and the environment. Output from the number-two crude producing state declined slightly in February. Regulators say production in North Dakota dropped by about 64-thousand barrels to just over one million barrels per day. Their gas-capture rate dropped by two percent, but still exceeds the anti-flaring goals set by the state. The Wall Street Journal reported on a major new undertaking by BP to end routine flaring of natural gas in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. The company plans to spend $1.3 billion to build a network of pipelines and other infrastructure to collect and capture the natural gas produced at its oil wells. If all goes as planned, the firm says it hopes to end routine flaring by 2025. The burning of gas in this way is prevalent in the Permian because most producers there drill for more profitable oil and often incinerate or vent into the air the gas that comes as a byproduct. A new government report suggests some big production increases are on the way. The Energy Information Administration predicts output increases in the Permian Basin, which dwarf the declines expected in four other shale-oil plays, some of which will post declines. Total shale production in May is now expected to increase by 13,000 barrels to 7.6 million barrels per day. But Permian Basin production is expected to top 4.46 million barrels per day in May, an increase of 52,000 barrels per day over expected April output. EIA also reported a big drop in the number of drilled but uncompleted wells, reflected in each of the seven major shale plays. That added 177 new completed oil wells to the energy mix last month. Shale production now accounts for about two-thirds of all US crude output. One of the Emirates on the Persian Gulf is challenging the U.S. Justice Department's seizure of crude oil which the government said violated Iran sanctions. A company owned by the Emir of Fujaira filed papers in US court to dismiss a forfeiture complaint. Lloyd's Maritime Intelligence reports the tanker resumed normal trading after the cargo was discharged and seized in Houston. Hundreds of thousands of barrels await a series of US legal challenges. French Oil giant Total has signed a deal with officials in the African nation of Uganda which could make the country a significant crude producer and exporter. The company expects production to peak at 230-thousand barrels per day, which would rank it among the top African producers in OPEC. Officials also announced an agreement to build a 900 mile pipeline to connect newly-discovered oil fields in Western Uganda with the Indian Ocean and international markets.

News from the Oil Patch (4/26)

Government and watchdog reports are fueling the best oil-price rally in a month. The International Energy Agency and OPEC each raised their crude-oil demand outlook, while the US reported it's third straight weekly drop in inventories. The Nymex benchmark futures contract settled at $62.44 per barrel Tuesday, after three trading sessions above $63. Prices remain at or near one-month highs. Crude prices at CHS in McPherson are down slightly from Monday, but the Kansas benchmark remains above $52 a barrel. At $52.75, Kansas Common is up more than two dollars from last week and up a dollar from the first of the month. U.S. crude inventories dropped nearly six million barrels last week to just over 492 million. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that's about one percent above the five year average for this time of year.&nbsp; EIA reports nearly six million barrels per day of crude-oil imports last week, down 411-thousand barrels per day from the week before. Four-week average imports are up slightly from the same period last year. The government reported U.S. crude production averaged just short of eleven million barrels per day last week. Output for the week through April 9 was 99,000 barrels per day higher than the week before, but well behind the more than 12.2 million barrels per day we produced a year ago. In it's Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC offered some cautious optimism for the oil markets worldwide. The cartel predicts global oil demand this year will grow by about six million barrels per day over last year. Spot prices were up for the fifth consecutive month in March, because of what the report called "supportive fundamentals." The cartel reduced it's estimate of the economic contraction caused by the pandemic last year, based on a better-than-expected actual performance in several economies during the second half of the year. US Imports were flat for the fourth month in a row, while US exports were down for the third month in a row, according to the OPEC report. EIA says US refineries are operating at 84% of capacity, the highest utilization rate so far this year. The auto club AAA says that helped increase domestic gasoline supplies, and thus helps push down the national average pump price.&nbsp; Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight uptick in the Rig Count in Kansas. There are 13 active rigs in Western Kansas, which is up one from last week. The count east of Wichita was unchanged at seven active rigs. Operators are evaluating one well drilled to total depth in Barton County, two in Ellis County and one in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reports 439 active drilling rigs across the US, an increase of seven oil rigs and one gas rig. The count in Texas was up five rigs. Regulators in the Sunflower State approved nine new drilling permits last week, eight in Western Kansas and one east of Wichita, for a running total of 221 new permits so far this year. Operators completed 14 new wells in Kansas last week. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports five new completions east of Wichita, and nine in the western half of the state, including one each in Barton, Russell and Stafford counties. That's 201 newly-completed wells statewide so far this year. Weekly oil-by-rail tallies were up compared to last year, for the first year-over-year increase since March of 2020. The Association of American Railroads reports a total of 11,426 tanker cars hauling petroleum or petroleum products during the week that ended April 10. That's up more than a thousand tankers from the week before, and an eight percent increase over a year ago. Canada also posted a slight year-over-year increase in the weekly total. The running totals for oil-by-rail deliveries so far this year still lag behind last year by 13% in the US and 18% in Canada.&nbsp; Iran’s sanctioned oil production has risen to its highest level in almost two years thanks to its growing Chinese market. Iran's output of 2.3 million barrels a day in March was its highest since May 2019, when the US imposed a full embargo. Meanwhile, an emirate in the Persian Gulf is challenging the U.S. seizure of crude oil under that embargo. Lloyd's Maritime Intelligence reports hundreds of thousands of barrels were discharged and seized in Houston. The latest in a series of legal challenges for the oil was filed by a company owned by the Emir of Fujaira, located about 100 miles across the Persian Gulf from Iran. A U.S. judge said he was surprised by government lawyers who said the Biden Administration would not order the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, but he says he'll decide for himself. Even though President Biden declined to enforce a temporary shutdown, the administration reserves the right to shut down the facility at any time during a new environmental review, which could take a year to complete. As it stands, the facility will remain open during that period. Former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo will speak at a petroleum conference in North Dakota next month. The former 4th District Kansas Congressman is among 70 speakers slated for the three-day Williston Basin Petroleum Conference. The event will also feature executives from Conoco Phillips and Energy Transfer, the operators of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Pompeo, a former oilfield services firm president, will speak on the final day of the conference May 13.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. Tretbar Government and watchdog reports are fueling the best oil-price rally in a month. The International Energy Agency and OPEC each raised their crude-oil demand outlook, while the US reported it's third straight weekly drop in inventories. The Nymex benchmark futures contract settled at $62.44 per barrel Tuesday, after three trading sessions above $63. Prices remain at or near one-month highs. Crude prices at CHS in McPherson are down slightly from Monday, but the Kansas benchmark remains above $52 a barrel. At $52.75, Kansas Common is up more than two dollars from last week and up a dollar from the first of the month. U.S. crude inventories dropped nearly six million barrels last week to just over 492 million. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that's about one percent above the five year average for this time of year.&nbsp; EIA reports nearly six million barrels per day of crude-oil imports last week, down 411-thousand barrels per day from the week before. Four-week average imports are up slightly from the same period last year. The government reported U.S. crude production averaged just short of eleven million barrels per day last week. Output for the week through April 9 was 99,000 barrels per day higher than the week before, but well behind the more than 12.2 million barrels per day we produced a year ago. In it's Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC offered some cautious optimism for the oil markets worldwide. The cartel predicts global oil demand this year will grow by about six million barrels per day over last year. Spot prices were up for the fifth consecutive month in March, because of what the report called "supportive fundamentals." The cartel reduced it's estimate of the economic contraction caused by the pandemic last year, based on a better-than-expected actual performance in several economies during the second half of the year. US Imports were flat for the fourth month in a row, while US exports were down for the third month in a row, according to the OPEC report. EIA says US refineries are operating at 84% of capacity, the highest utilization rate so far this year. The auto club AAA says that helped increase domestic gasoline supplies, and thus helps push down the national average pump price.&nbsp; Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight uptick in the Rig Count in Kansas. There are 13 active rigs in Western Kansas, which is up one from last week. The count east of Wichita was unchanged at seven active rigs. Operators are evaluating one well drilled to total depth in Barton County, two in Ellis County and one in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reports 439 active drilling rigs across the US, an increase of seven oil rigs and one gas rig. The count in Texas was up five rigs. Regulators in the Sunflower State approved nine new drilling permits last week, eight in Western Kansas and one east of Wichita, for a running total of 221 new permits so far this year. Operators completed 14 new wells in Kansas last week. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports five new completions east of Wichita, and nine in the western half of the state, including one each in Barton, Russell and Stafford counties. That's 201 newly-completed wells statewide so far this year. Weekly oil-by-rail tallies were up compared to last year, for the first year-over-year increase since March of 2020. The Association of American Railroads reports a total of 11,426 tanker cars hauling petroleum or petroleum products during the week that ended April 10. That's up more than a thousand tankers from the week before, and an eight percent increase over a year ago. Canada also posted a slight year-over-year increase in the weekly total. The running totals for oil-by-rail deliveries so far this year still lag behind last year by 13% in the US and 18% in Canada.&nbsp; Iran’s sanctioned oil production has risen to its highest level in almost two years thanks to its growing Chinese market. Iran's output of 2.3 million barrels a day in March was its highest since May 2019, when the US imposed a full embargo. Meanwhile, an emirate in the Persian Gulf is challenging the U.S. seizure of crude oil under that embargo. Lloyd's Maritime Intelligence reports hundreds of thousands of barrels were discharged and seized in Houston. The latest in a series of legal challenges for the oil was filed by a company owned by the Emir of Fujaira, located about 100 miles across the Persian Gulf from Iran. A U.S. judge said he was surprised by government lawyers who said the Biden Administration would not order the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, but he says he'll decide for himself. Even though President Biden declined to enforce a temporary shutdown, the administration reserves the right to shut down the facility at any time during a new environmental review, which could take a year to complete. As it stands, the facility will remain open during that period. Former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo will speak at a petroleum conference in North Dakota next month. The former 4th District Kansas Congressman is among 70 speakers slated for the three-day Williston Basin Petroleum Conference. The event will also feature executives from Conoco Phillips and Energy Transfer, the operators of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Pompeo, a former oilfield services firm president, will speak on the final day of the conference May 13.

News From the Oil Patch (4/21)

Crude futures prices settled below sixty dollars
per barrel for five consecutive trading sessions last week. Friday's settlement
price was $59.32 per barrel. Prices on the Nymex briefly topped $60 Monday, but
by lunchtime the benchmark contract was going for $59.67 per barrel. 
Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $49.50 per barrel
after dropping a quarter per barrel on Friday. Current Kansas prices are about
a dollar lower than at the first of the month, but are nearly $11 higher than
at the beginning of the year. 
Triple-A says a jump in demand and tightening supplies prompted major
fluctuations in gasoline prices. The national average on Thursday (4/8) was
down slightly to $2.87 per gallon. That's down slightly from last week, but up
a dime from a month ago, and nearly a dollar more than a year ago. Changes in
weekly statewide average prices ranged from an increase of 15 cents to a
decrease of three cents. The average in Kansas jumped three cents to $2.68 per
gallon Thursday. Your 15-gallon fill-up will cost you nearly $19 more than last
year at this time, but only a dime more than last week. 
Oilfield services employment has a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic
levels, but last month's numbers are a good start. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics and analysis by the Energy Workforce and Technology Council,
that sector notched upwards of 102,000 pandemic-related job losses. World Oil
dot com reports improvements in the fourth quarter of last year were followed
by cuts in December, January and February. But the government says the sector
added more than 23,000 jobs in March. 
Baker Hughes reported 432 active drilling rigs across the country last week, an
increase of two gas rigs. The count in Oklahoma was up one for the week.
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports seven active drilling rigs in eastern
Kansas, up two for the week, and 12 west of Wichita, which is down one. The
inactive count across Kansas reached 145, adding ten more cold-stacked rigs to
that list. Since last year 45 rigs have gone out of state or "gone to
rust." The total number of rigs in Kansas, both available and inactive,
dropped from 238 a year ago to 193 last week. 
Of 17 new drilling permits in Kansas last week, 12 are west of Wichita and five
are in the eastern half of the state. Our cumulative tally shows 212 new
drilling permits so far this year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports
nine newly-completed wells across the state last week, two of them east of
Wichita and seven in Western Kansas. That's 187 completions so far this year. 
Domestic crude inventories dropped last week by 3.5 million barrels. The US
Energy Information Administration said stockpiles are just over 498 million
barrels, or about 3% over the five-year seasonal average. Crude production in
the US increased last week by more than 100-thousand barrels per day. EIA says
output for the week ending April 2 averaged nearly 10.9 million barrels per
day. That's down from 12.4 million barrels per day a year ago. The government
reported U.S. crude imports increased more than 100-thousand barrels per day to
6.3 million. EIA said the four-week average is down about five percent from a
year ago. 
Weekly oil-by-rail traffic declined last week by 291 carloads from the week
before, to 10,403 tanker cars. The Association of America Railroads reports the
year-over-year decline dropped to one tenth of one percent, the smallest such
comparison in recent memory. 
The AAR reports a fourteen percent increase in total monthly rail traffic in
the U.S. in March compared to a year ago. But the trade group cautions that for
some cargo categories, the changes from last year are inflated because of the
widespread shutdowns last year at this time. In March 2021, oil-by-rail
deliveries were down 5,073 carloads, or 8.5 percent. 
One of the biggest players in the Bakken is selling a big piece of the play.
Hess Corporation will unload more than 78-thousand acres in North Dakota to
Enerplus Corporation in a deal worth $312 million, which they expect to close
next month. The property is in the southernmost part of the Hess portfolio and
is not connected to the pipeline and processing infrastructure of Hess
Midstream. CEO John Hess says they were not planning any more drilling in the
parcel for at least five years. Net production from this acreage averaged 4,500
barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2021. 
Several large oil-patch companies are going Green, even as economists warn of
the impact. North America's biggest oil pipeline company is now seeking
Canadian tax incentives similar to those available in the US, in an effort to
become competitive in hydrogen production and renewable electricity. Enbridge
last year became the first North American industry player to set a goal of
eliminating all net emissions from its operations by the year 2050. Two of
Canada's biggest producers are hyping their new emissions goals. But, Canadian
Natural Resources and Cenovus Energy both said Tuesday they will not pivot away
from their core businesses. 
A new report suggests Canada's pursuit of aggressive climate targets could cost
three out of every four Canadian oil-and-gas workers their jobs. The report by
TD Economics estimates that in less than thirty years, up to 450,000 of
Canada’s current 600,000 direct and indirect oil and gas jobs could become
casualties of falling demand, without some kind of worker-transition plan in
place.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. TretbarCrude futures prices settled below sixty dollars
per barrel for five consecutive trading sessions last week. Friday's settlement
price was $59.32 per barrel. Prices on the Nymex briefly topped $60 Monday, but
by lunchtime the benchmark contract was going for $59.67 per barrel. 
Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson starts the week at $49.50 per barrel
after dropping a quarter per barrel on Friday. Current Kansas prices are about
a dollar lower than at the first of the month, but are nearly $11 higher than
at the beginning of the year. 
Triple-A says a jump in demand and tightening supplies prompted major
fluctuations in gasoline prices. The national average on Thursday (4/8) was
down slightly to $2.87 per gallon. That's down slightly from last week, but up
a dime from a month ago, and nearly a dollar more than a year ago. Changes in
weekly statewide average prices ranged from an increase of 15 cents to a
decrease of three cents. The average in Kansas jumped three cents to $2.68 per
gallon Thursday. Your 15-gallon fill-up will cost you nearly $19 more than last
year at this time, but only a dime more than last week. 
Oilfield services employment has a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic
levels, but last month's numbers are a good start. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics and analysis by the Energy Workforce and Technology Council,
that sector notched upwards of 102,000 pandemic-related job losses. World Oil
dot com reports improvements in the fourth quarter of last year were followed
by cuts in December, January and February. But the government says the sector
added more than 23,000 jobs in March. 
Baker Hughes reported 432 active drilling rigs across the country last week, an
increase of two gas rigs. The count in Oklahoma was up one for the week.
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports seven active drilling rigs in eastern
Kansas, up two for the week, and 12 west of Wichita, which is down one. The
inactive count across Kansas reached 145, adding ten more cold-stacked rigs to
that list. Since last year 45 rigs have gone out of state or "gone to
rust." The total number of rigs in Kansas, both available and inactive,
dropped from 238 a year ago to 193 last week. 
Of 17 new drilling permits in Kansas last week, 12 are west of Wichita and five
are in the eastern half of the state. Our cumulative tally shows 212 new
drilling permits so far this year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports
nine newly-completed wells across the state last week, two of them east of
Wichita and seven in Western Kansas. That's 187 completions so far this year. 
Domestic crude inventories dropped last week by 3.5 million barrels. The US
Energy Information Administration said stockpiles are just over 498 million
barrels, or about 3% over the five-year seasonal average. Crude production in
the US increased last week by more than 100-thousand barrels per day. EIA says
output for the week ending April 2 averaged nearly 10.9 million barrels per
day. That's down from 12.4 million barrels per day a year ago. The government
reported U.S. crude imports increased more than 100-thousand barrels per day to
6.3 million. EIA said the four-week average is down about five percent from a
year ago. 
Weekly oil-by-rail traffic declined last week by 291 carloads from the week
before, to 10,403 tanker cars. The Association of America Railroads reports the
year-over-year decline dropped to one tenth of one percent, the smallest such
comparison in recent memory. 
The AAR reports a fourteen percent increase in total monthly rail traffic in
the U.S. in March compared to a year ago. But the trade group cautions that for
some cargo categories, the changes from last year are inflated because of the
widespread shutdowns last year at this time. In March 2021, oil-by-rail
deliveries were down 5,073 carloads, or 8.5 percent. 
One of the biggest players in the Bakken is selling a big piece of the play.
Hess Corporation will unload more than 78-thousand acres in North Dakota to
Enerplus Corporation in a deal worth $312 million, which they expect to close
next month. The property is in the southernmost part of the Hess portfolio and
is not connected to the pipeline and processing infrastructure of Hess
Midstream. CEO John Hess says they were not planning any more drilling in the
parcel for at least five years. Net production from this acreage averaged 4,500
barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2021. 
Several large oil-patch companies are going Green, even as economists warn of
the impact. North America's biggest oil pipeline company is now seeking
Canadian tax incentives similar to those available in the US, in an effort to
become competitive in hydrogen production and renewable electricity. Enbridge
last year became the first North American industry player to set a goal of
eliminating all net emissions from its operations by the year 2050. Two of
Canada's biggest producers are hyping their new emissions goals. But, Canadian
Natural Resources and Cenovus Energy both said Tuesday they will not pivot away
from their core businesses. 
A new report suggests Canada's pursuit of aggressive climate targets could cost
three out of every four Canadian oil-and-gas workers their jobs. The report by
TD Economics estimates that in less than thirty years, up to 450,000 of
Canada’s current 600,000 direct and indirect oil and gas jobs could become
casualties of falling demand, without some kind of worker-transition plan in
place.

News From the Oil Patch (4/13)

Nymex settlement prices last week ranged from $59 to $61 per
barrel. But light sweet crude ended the week just a dime higher than the week
before, settling Thursday at $61.45 per barrel. In lunchtime trading Monday,
the benchmark contract was down nearly five percent to $58 56 per barrel.
London Brent dropped to $62.15. Some analysts are calling the selloff a delayed
reaction to news last week that OPEC Plus will ease its self-imposed production
cuts. 
 
Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson remains unchanged since Thursday due to
the holiday, and starts the week Monday at $51.75 per barrel.&nbsp; The average
price for the month of March was just short of $52.89 a barrel, marking the
best monthly average for Kansas Common in McPherson since April of 2019. 
 
U.S. crude production last year dropped by eight percent from the record high
set the year before. As we've told you, the decrease last year was the largest
annual decline in EIA records. But Kansas output dropped even more, down 17
percent from the previous year. Drilling down into the data offered in a new
report from the Kansas Geological Survey, we find the local totals are also
significantly lower. Barton County output averaged 3,787 barrels per day (bpd)
last year, down from 4,459 bpd the year before. Ellis County pumped 5,990 bpd,
down from 6,925 bpd in 2019. Russell County production dropped from 4,107 bpd
in 2019 to 3,593 bpd last year. Stafford county dipped below one million
barrels total production last year for the first time in decades. Average
output fell to 2,488 bpd, from 2,848 bpd the year before. 
 
State regulators reported a small spike in drilling notices in March. The
Kansas Corporation Commission reported 103 intent-to-drill notices statewide
compared to just 31 the month before. That's 213 intents during the first three
months of the year, compared to 171 during the first quarter of last year. The
KCC notes one new intent in Barton County, three in Russell County and one in
Stafford County. 
 
Overall drilling activity in Kansas through the first three months of the year
is down by about half compared to the first quarter of last year.&nbsp; That's
based on new wells spud in the state. During the first quarter of 2021,
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 102 wells drilled to total depth.
There are 18 active drilling rigs in Kansas, a 200% increase from a year ago.
There are five active rigs in eastern Kansas, up four from the week before, and
13 west of Wichita, up two.&nbsp; Operators say they will soon spud a new well
in Barton County. 
 
The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes rose to 430 Friday, an increase
of 13 oil rigs. That's the largest jump since January 2020. The count in Texas
was up four, New Mexico was up three, and Utah was up two. 
 
Kansas regulators approved seven new drilling permits last week, three in the
eastern half of the state and four in Western Kansas, for a year-to-date total
of 195 new permits. 
 
Out of 19 newly-completed wells in Kansas last week, Independent Oil &amp; Gas
Service says 14 are in Western Kansas, including one in Barton County, two in
Ellis county and two in Stafford County. Operators have completed 178 wells
across Kansas so far this year. 
 
For the first time in over a month, weekly U.S. oil-by-rail traffic declined
last week. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,694 tanker cars
hauling petroleum during the week ended March 27, down 945 tankers from the
week before, and a 4.8% drop from a year earlier. 
 
The government says U.S. crude-oil inventories decreased by 900-thousand
barrels last week. At nearly 502 million barrels, stockpiles are about six
percent above the five-year seasonal average. 
 
U.S. crude production topped eleven million barrels per day for the first time
since late January. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports
production of 11.145 million barrels per day for the week ending March 26.
That's up 191-thousand barrels per day from the week before, but down nearly
two million barrels per day from last year at this time. 
 
U.S. crude-oil imports increased by half a million barrels per day last week.
Over the past four weeks, imports were down more than nine percent from the
same four-week period last year. 
 
Gasoline stockpiles were up 1.7 million barrels last week, and are about four
percent below the five-year seasonal average. Triple-A says growing stockpiles
and cheaper crude are putting downward pressure on pump prices, but not enough
to report a steady trend just yet. The national average pump price on Monday
(3/29) was lower than the average a week earlier for the first time since last
November. 
 
Ships resumed transit through the Suez Canal last week, as port authorities
braced for a flood of traffic that was diverted or delayed by that grounded
container vessel. Authorities in the Canal Zone hoped to quickly clear the
traffic jam, including a backlog of more than four hundred ships. 
 
Energy Giant Pioneer Natural Resources, announced another huge takeover deal.
Two deals total $11 BILLION in cash, stock and debt to acquire competitors in
the Permian Basin. Pioneer will buy DoublePoint Energy in a deal valued at $6.4
BILLION. The deal increases Pioneer's position to more than 1 million net
acres, adding what the company called primarily undrilled new land.&nbsp; The
transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. It would be Pioneer’s
second big buy in just over six months, after announcing in October it would
buy Parsley Energy for $4.5 billion. 
 
Tallgrass Pony Express Pipeline announced a binding open season looking for
crude-oil shippers. They're offering volume incentive tariff rates to move
crude some 830 miles from North Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado to Cushing,
Oklahoma. Along the way the pipeline connects to refineries in McPherson and El
Dorado, Kansas as well as Ponca City, Oklahoma. Tallgrass converted a 430-mile
natural gas pipeline, and built another 260 miles of new pipe, to extend Pony
Express through southern Kansas into Oklahoma.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. TretbarNymex settlement prices last week ranged from $59 to $61 per
barrel. But light sweet crude ended the week just a dime higher than the week
before, settling Thursday at $61.45 per barrel. In lunchtime trading Monday,
the benchmark contract was down nearly five percent to $58 56 per barrel.
London Brent dropped to $62.15. Some analysts are calling the selloff a delayed
reaction to news last week that OPEC Plus will ease its self-imposed production
cuts. 
 
Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson remains unchanged since Thursday due to
the holiday, and starts the week Monday at $51.75 per barrel.&nbsp; The average
price for the month of March was just short of $52.89 a barrel, marking the
best monthly average for Kansas Common in McPherson since April of 2019. 
 
U.S. crude production last year dropped by eight percent from the record high
set the year before. As we've told you, the decrease last year was the largest
annual decline in EIA records. But Kansas output dropped even more, down 17
percent from the previous year. Drilling down into the data offered in a new
report from the Kansas Geological Survey, we find the local totals are also
significantly lower. Barton County output averaged 3,787 barrels per day (bpd)
last year, down from 4,459 bpd the year before. Ellis County pumped 5,990 bpd,
down from 6,925 bpd in 2019. Russell County production dropped from 4,107 bpd
in 2019 to 3,593 bpd last year. Stafford county dipped below one million
barrels total production last year for the first time in decades. Average
output fell to 2,488 bpd, from 2,848 bpd the year before. 
 
State regulators reported a small spike in drilling notices in March. The
Kansas Corporation Commission reported 103 intent-to-drill notices statewide
compared to just 31 the month before. That's 213 intents during the first three
months of the year, compared to 171 during the first quarter of last year. The
KCC notes one new intent in Barton County, three in Russell County and one in
Stafford County. 
 
Overall drilling activity in Kansas through the first three months of the year
is down by about half compared to the first quarter of last year.&nbsp; That's
based on new wells spud in the state. During the first quarter of 2021,
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 102 wells drilled to total depth.
There are 18 active drilling rigs in Kansas, a 200% increase from a year ago.
There are five active rigs in eastern Kansas, up four from the week before, and
13 west of Wichita, up two.&nbsp; Operators say they will soon spud a new well
in Barton County. 
 
The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes rose to 430 Friday, an increase
of 13 oil rigs. That's the largest jump since January 2020. The count in Texas
was up four, New Mexico was up three, and Utah was up two. 
 
Kansas regulators approved seven new drilling permits last week, three in the
eastern half of the state and four in Western Kansas, for a year-to-date total
of 195 new permits. 
 
Out of 19 newly-completed wells in Kansas last week, Independent Oil &amp; Gas
Service says 14 are in Western Kansas, including one in Barton County, two in
Ellis county and two in Stafford County. Operators have completed 178 wells
across Kansas so far this year. 
 
For the first time in over a month, weekly U.S. oil-by-rail traffic declined
last week. The Association of American Railroads reports 10,694 tanker cars
hauling petroleum during the week ended March 27, down 945 tankers from the
week before, and a 4.8% drop from a year earlier. 
 
The government says U.S. crude-oil inventories decreased by 900-thousand
barrels last week. At nearly 502 million barrels, stockpiles are about six
percent above the five-year seasonal average. 
 
U.S. crude production topped eleven million barrels per day for the first time
since late January. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports
production of 11.145 million barrels per day for the week ending March 26.
That's up 191-thousand barrels per day from the week before, but down nearly
two million barrels per day from last year at this time. 
 
U.S. crude-oil imports increased by half a million barrels per day last week.
Over the past four weeks, imports were down more than nine percent from the
same four-week period last year. 
 
Gasoline stockpiles were up 1.7 million barrels last week, and are about four
percent below the five-year seasonal average. Triple-A says growing stockpiles
and cheaper crude are putting downward pressure on pump prices, but not enough
to report a steady trend just yet. The national average pump price on Monday
(3/29) was lower than the average a week earlier for the first time since last
November. 
 
Ships resumed transit through the Suez Canal last week, as port authorities
braced for a flood of traffic that was diverted or delayed by that grounded
container vessel. Authorities in the Canal Zone hoped to quickly clear the
traffic jam, including a backlog of more than four hundred ships. 
 
Energy Giant Pioneer Natural Resources, announced another huge takeover deal.
Two deals total $11 BILLION in cash, stock and debt to acquire competitors in
the Permian Basin. Pioneer will buy DoublePoint Energy in a deal valued at $6.4
BILLION. The deal increases Pioneer's position to more than 1 million net
acres, adding what the company called primarily undrilled new land.&nbsp; The
transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. It would be Pioneer’s
second big buy in just over six months, after announcing in October it would
buy Parsley Energy for $4.5 billion. 
 
Tallgrass Pony Express Pipeline announced a binding open season looking for
crude-oil shippers. They're offering volume incentive tariff rates to move
crude some 830 miles from North Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado to Cushing,
Oklahoma. Along the way the pipeline connects to refineries in McPherson and El
Dorado, Kansas as well as Ponca City, Oklahoma. Tallgrass converted a 430-mile
natural gas pipeline, and built another 260 miles of new pipe, to extend Pony
Express through southern Kansas into Oklahoma.

News From the Oil Patch (4/6)

Tugboat captains blared their horns Monday as that huge
container ship blocking ten percent of the world's sea commerce was finally
re-floated, six days after wedging itself into the mud along the Suez Canal.
But, as so often happens, there are those on the Internet who are not happy
with the end of their memes. On Twitter, "PUT IT BACK" has become a
trending topic in the United States.&nbsp;

Heavy dirt-movers and multiple tugboats were aided by high
tides, high winds, and a full moon Sunday night and Monday morning, as the
EVERGIVEN finally regained buoyancy and was able to resume it's course
northward through the Suez Canal. Now the ship's owners, its insurers, and its
lawyers are bracing for a raft of lawsuits. There were over 300 ships waiting
in line to use the canal on Sunday. Analysts say that backlog could be with us
for days if not weeks. The traffic jam delayed billions of dollars in trade
every day, causing some big problems for regional hot spots Syria and Lebanon,
where fuel shortages have already prompted rationing and blackouts. 
 
Kansas Crude prices during the month of March have been up and down, between a
low of $48 a barrel and a high of fifty-six twenty-five.&nbsp; But Kansas
Common starts this week at fifty-ONE twenty-five, which is just 25 cents more
than the price at the start of the month. 
 
Oil-by-rail shipments across the U.S. showed another weekly increase. Operators
moved 11,639 petroleum tanker cars during the week ending March 20, up 260 cars
from the week before. That's down nearly four percent from a year ago, marking
the smallest year-over-year decline since since January. 
 
Baker Hughes on Friday reported 417 active drilling rigs across the country, an
increase six oil rigs. The count in Texas was up three for the week.
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reported a 40% drop in its weekly Rig Count
in Kansas. There's one active drilling rig in the eastern half of the state,
down five from the week before. In Western Kansas, there are 11 active rigs,
down three. 
 
Regulators okayed 33 new drilling permits last week across Kansas, 26 of them
east of Wichita and seven in Western Kansas. That's 188 new permits so far this
year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 26 newly-completed wells across
the state, all of them in Western Kansas, including two in Barton County.
That's 159 completed wells so far this year, compared to more than 300 by the
end of the first quarter last year, as prices plunged and operators began shutting
down production. 
 
The Kansas Geological Society earlier this year recognized and named four new
oil and gas fields in Kansas. One of them is the Kay field in Ellis County,
targeting the Lansing-Kansas City formation. The Kay#1 well is operated by TDI
Incorporated. 
 
The government reported the fifth consecutive weekly increase in U.S. crude-oil
inventories. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles of over
502 million barrels last week, up by nearly two million barrels. That's about
six percent above the five-year seasonal average. 
 
The government reports an increase in weekly U.S. crude-oil production of
94-thousand barrels per day compared to the week before. EIA reports an average
of 10.86 million [["ten point eight six million"'']] barrels per day
for the week ending March 19.&nbsp; A year ago this week, domestic output was
just shy of 13 million barrels per day. 
 
The four-week average for U.S. crude imports remains about 13 percent less than
reports from the same four weeks last year. EIA reports average imports last
week were up 41-thousand barrels per day over the week before at 5.9 million
barrels per day. 
 
A huge railroad merger should make it easier to move Canadian crude to the Gulf
Coast, and refined products from there into Mexico. Canadian Pacific Railway is
buying Kansas City Southern. The $25 BILLION stock-and-cash deal would create
the Calgary-based "Canadian Pacific Kansas City," which is touted as
the first rail network connecting the US, Mexico and Canada. The integrated
company would boast 20,000 miles of rail network stretching from the Alberta
oil sands through central Mexico. The merged railroad would represent the
smallest of the six major freight haulers in the United States. Reaction has
been mixed. The Premier of Alberta Province said the deal was a win for crude
oil export capacity from Western Canada following the cancellation of the
Keystone pipeline expansion project. But some longtime crude-by-rail exporters
don't expect it will make much difference, with most oil-by-rail in the region
already shipping via the new company's biggest competitor, Canadian National
Railway.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. TretbarTugboat captains blared their horns Monday as that huge
container ship blocking ten percent of the world's sea commerce was finally
re-floated, six days after wedging itself into the mud along the Suez Canal.
But, as so often happens, there are those on the Internet who are not happy
with the end of their memes. On Twitter, "PUT IT BACK" has become a
trending topic in the United States.&nbsp;Heavy dirt-movers and multiple tugboats were aided by high
tides, high winds, and a full moon Sunday night and Monday morning, as the
EVERGIVEN finally regained buoyancy and was able to resume it's course
northward through the Suez Canal. Now the ship's owners, its insurers, and its
lawyers are bracing for a raft of lawsuits. There were over 300 ships waiting
in line to use the canal on Sunday. Analysts say that backlog could be with us
for days if not weeks. The traffic jam delayed billions of dollars in trade
every day, causing some big problems for regional hot spots Syria and Lebanon,
where fuel shortages have already prompted rationing and blackouts. 
 
Kansas Crude prices during the month of March have been up and down, between a
low of $48 a barrel and a high of fifty-six twenty-five.&nbsp; But Kansas
Common starts this week at fifty-ONE twenty-five, which is just 25 cents more
than the price at the start of the month. 
 
Oil-by-rail shipments across the U.S. showed another weekly increase. Operators
moved 11,639 petroleum tanker cars during the week ending March 20, up 260 cars
from the week before. That's down nearly four percent from a year ago, marking
the smallest year-over-year decline since since January. 
 
Baker Hughes on Friday reported 417 active drilling rigs across the country, an
increase six oil rigs. The count in Texas was up three for the week.
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reported a 40% drop in its weekly Rig Count
in Kansas. There's one active drilling rig in the eastern half of the state,
down five from the week before. In Western Kansas, there are 11 active rigs,
down three. 
 
Regulators okayed 33 new drilling permits last week across Kansas, 26 of them
east of Wichita and seven in Western Kansas. That's 188 new permits so far this
year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 26 newly-completed wells across
the state, all of them in Western Kansas, including two in Barton County.
That's 159 completed wells so far this year, compared to more than 300 by the
end of the first quarter last year, as prices plunged and operators began shutting
down production. 
 
The Kansas Geological Society earlier this year recognized and named four new
oil and gas fields in Kansas. One of them is the Kay field in Ellis County,
targeting the Lansing-Kansas City formation. The Kay#1 well is operated by TDI
Incorporated. 
 
The government reported the fifth consecutive weekly increase in U.S. crude-oil
inventories. The Energy Information Administration reports stockpiles of over
502 million barrels last week, up by nearly two million barrels. That's about
six percent above the five-year seasonal average. 
 
The government reports an increase in weekly U.S. crude-oil production of
94-thousand barrels per day compared to the week before. EIA reports an average
of 10.86 million [["ten point eight six million"'']] barrels per day
for the week ending March 19.&nbsp; A year ago this week, domestic output was
just shy of 13 million barrels per day. 
 
The four-week average for U.S. crude imports remains about 13 percent less than
reports from the same four weeks last year. EIA reports average imports last
week were up 41-thousand barrels per day over the week before at 5.9 million
barrels per day. 
 
A huge railroad merger should make it easier to move Canadian crude to the Gulf
Coast, and refined products from there into Mexico. Canadian Pacific Railway is
buying Kansas City Southern. The $25 BILLION stock-and-cash deal would create
the Calgary-based "Canadian Pacific Kansas City," which is touted as
the first rail network connecting the US, Mexico and Canada. The integrated
company would boast 20,000 miles of rail network stretching from the Alberta
oil sands through central Mexico. The merged railroad would represent the
smallest of the six major freight haulers in the United States. Reaction has
been mixed. The Premier of Alberta Province said the deal was a win for crude
oil export capacity from Western Canada following the cancellation of the
Keystone pipeline expansion project. But some longtime crude-by-rail exporters
don't expect it will make much difference, with most oil-by-rail in the region
already shipping via the new company's biggest competitor, Canadian National
Railway.

News From the Oil Patch (3/29)

John P. Tretbar Crude futures prices on Friday climbed to a settlement above $61, but that still marked the largest weekly loss since October. U.S. crude prices were down slightly in midday trading Monday. At CHS in McPherson, crude prices are up a dollar fifty a barrel. Kansas Common crude starts the week at $51.75 per barrel. That's up from $51 at the first of the month, and a full $13 a barrel higher than at the first of the year. Two weeks of declining gasoline stockpiles pumped up national pump prices by 40 cents since the winter storm hit Texas. Triple-A reports Americans are paying an average of 14% more to fill up compared to February. EIA says gasoline inventories are now increasing, but stockpiles are about four percent below the five-year average for this time of year. The national average pump price for regular gasoline is just over $2.88, more than seventy cents higher than a year ago. The average across Kansas is $2.67 a gallon. Filling up a 15-gallon tank will cost you two dollars more than last week, six dollars more than last month, and 12 dollars more than a year ago at this time. The Rig Count in Kansas was up slightly, adding one rig west of Wichita last week. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports operators about to spud a new well in Ellis County. Drilling is underway at one lease in Stafford County and one in Russell County.&nbsp; Baker Hughes reported 411 active drilling rigs across the US Friday. That's an increase of nine oil rigs including seven new entries in New Mexico. Regulators gave their okay to 12 new drilling permits across Kansas last week, four of them east of Wichita and eight in the western half of the state, including one new permit in Barton County. Independent Oil &amp; Gas reported 12 newly-completed wells for the week ending March 18. Five are east of Wichita and seven are in Western Kansas, including one each in Barton and Stafford counties. The government reports U.S. crude production last week was up one thousand barrels per day over the week before at 10.86 million barrels per day. A year ago this week, operators pumped more than 13 million barrels per day. The Energy Information Administration reports U.S. crude-oil inventories jumped nearly two-and-a-half million barrels last week, topping 500 million barrels for the first time this year. Imports were down 332-thousand barrels per day to 5.3 million. The four-week average is down nearly 14% from the same four weeks a year ago. Oil-by-rail shipments in the United States continue to grow, but still lag behind totals from a year ago. According to the Association of American Railroads, operators shipped 11,379 tanker cars of petroleum and petroleum product by rail during the week ending March 13. That's an increase of 877 cars from the week before, but the total remains about 14% behind last year.&nbsp; In Canada, oil-by-rail traffic increased by about a thousand rail cars week-over-week, but remain about 17% behind the totals from a year ago. Every two years the Legislative Assembly in North Dakota must approve state spending. As you might expect, predicting income two years in advance is a tall order for a budget that relies largely on oil and gas revenue. In the last two years, we've seen prices above $70 and below zero. On Monday, the lawmakers announced their best guess, marking an increase in expectations, based on an optimistic view of stable oil prices and production. It marks an increase of $95 million from their starting point in July.&nbsp; New data from an oil-and-gas watchdog in New Mexico show the state had fewer spills from the oil and gas industry last year than in years past, but greater emissions. According to the Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper, last year continued a string of annual declines in oil and wastewater spills reaching the lowest total since 2013. But the report suggests methane emissions were the highest since they began tracking them in 2013. The world's largest oil company saw profits tumble last year. Saudi Aramco reported earnings of $49 BILLION in 2020, which is down 44% from the $88 BILLION they reported the year before. The state-owned company's CEO described last year as one of the most challenging years in history.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. Tretbar Crude futures prices on Friday climbed to a settlement above $61, but that still marked the largest weekly loss since October. U.S. crude prices were down slightly in midday trading Monday. At CHS in McPherson, crude prices are up a dollar fifty a barrel. Kansas Common crude starts the week at $51.75 per barrel. That's up from $51 at the first of the month, and a full $13 a barrel higher than at the first of the year. Two weeks of declining gasoline stockpiles pumped up national pump prices by 40 cents since the winter storm hit Texas. Triple-A reports Americans are paying an average of 14% more to fill up compared to February. EIA says gasoline inventories are now increasing, but stockpiles are about four percent below the five-year average for this time of year. The national average pump price for regular gasoline is just over $2.88, more than seventy cents higher than a year ago. The average across Kansas is $2.67 a gallon. Filling up a 15-gallon tank will cost you two dollars more than last week, six dollars more than last month, and 12 dollars more than a year ago at this time. The Rig Count in Kansas was up slightly, adding one rig west of Wichita last week. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports operators about to spud a new well in Ellis County. Drilling is underway at one lease in Stafford County and one in Russell County.&nbsp; Baker Hughes reported 411 active drilling rigs across the US Friday. That's an increase of nine oil rigs including seven new entries in New Mexico. Regulators gave their okay to 12 new drilling permits across Kansas last week, four of them east of Wichita and eight in the western half of the state, including one new permit in Barton County. Independent Oil &amp; Gas reported 12 newly-completed wells for the week ending March 18. Five are east of Wichita and seven are in Western Kansas, including one each in Barton and Stafford counties. The government reports U.S. crude production last week was up one thousand barrels per day over the week before at 10.86 million barrels per day. A year ago this week, operators pumped more than 13 million barrels per day. The Energy Information Administration reports U.S. crude-oil inventories jumped nearly two-and-a-half million barrels last week, topping 500 million barrels for the first time this year. Imports were down 332-thousand barrels per day to 5.3 million. The four-week average is down nearly 14% from the same four weeks a year ago. Oil-by-rail shipments in the United States continue to grow, but still lag behind totals from a year ago. According to the Association of American Railroads, operators shipped 11,379 tanker cars of petroleum and petroleum product by rail during the week ending March 13. That's an increase of 877 cars from the week before, but the total remains about 14% behind last year.&nbsp; In Canada, oil-by-rail traffic increased by about a thousand rail cars week-over-week, but remain about 17% behind the totals from a year ago. Every two years the Legislative Assembly in North Dakota must approve state spending. As you might expect, predicting income two years in advance is a tall order for a budget that relies largely on oil and gas revenue. In the last two years, we've seen prices above $70 and below zero. On Monday, the lawmakers announced their best guess, marking an increase in expectations, based on an optimistic view of stable oil prices and production. It marks an increase of $95 million from their starting point in July.&nbsp; New data from an oil-and-gas watchdog in New Mexico show the state had fewer spills from the oil and gas industry last year than in years past, but greater emissions. According to the Carlsbad Current Argus newspaper, last year continued a string of annual declines in oil and wastewater spills reaching the lowest total since 2013. But the report suggests methane emissions were the highest since they began tracking them in 2013. The world's largest oil company saw profits tumble last year. Saudi Aramco reported earnings of $49 BILLION in 2020, which is down 44% from the $88 BILLION they reported the year before. The state-owned company's CEO described last year as one of the most challenging years in history.

News From the Oil Patch (3/22)

With crude prices surging and refinery
utilization plummeting, gasoline pump prices continued to rise. According to
Triple-A, one in ten gas stations nationwide posted prices over three dollars a
gallon last week. The national average price for a gallon of regular is up to
nearly $2.88 per gallon. That's an increase of seven cents on the week, an
increase of 34 cents on the month, and is 64 cents a gallon higher than a year
ago. The average in every state has climbed by double-digits since February.
The average pump price in Kansas is just over two sixty-eight per gallon, an
increase of three cents over a week ago and 34 cents higher than the average
six months ago. Your 15-gallon fill-up will cost you a dollar more than last
week, four dollars more than last month, and nearly ten dollars more than six
months ago. 
Kansas Crude prices are down 75 cents from Monday but remained four dollars
above the first of the month and more than $16 higher than at the first of the
year. A barrel of Kansas Common crude now fetches $55 at CHS in McPherson. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight increase in the rig count in
eastern Kansas, and a slight decline west of Wichita. Operators have drilled to
total depth on a new well in Ellis County, and an operator reports drilling
ahead on a new well in Stafford County. Nationwide the aggregate oil rig count
was down one. Baker Hughes reported an increase of one active rig in Texas, but
said Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Dakota were each down one. 
Kansas regulators okayed 21 new drilling permits last week (through 3/12),
fourteen in eastern Kansas and seven west of Wichita. That's 143 new permits so
far this year. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a newly-completed well in Stafford
County among four west of Wichita. There was one new completion in eastern
Kansas, bringing the total statewide so far this year to 121 newly-completed
wells. 
The government said U.S. crude inventories were up nearly 14 million barrels
last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that's about six
percent above the five-year average for this time of year. After two weeks
below ten million barrels per day, EIA says U.S. operators are now pumping
nearly eleven. Domestic crude production for the week ending March 5 totaled
10.859 million barrels per day, a nine percent increase over the week before.
&nbsp; 
Weekly crude imports were down slightly. The four-week average is nearly 12%
less than the same four-week period a year ago. 
EIA says gasoline stockpiles are about six percent below the five-year seasonal
average after dropping nearly 12 million barrels last week. Triple-A says pump
prices average about eight cents more than a week ago across the U.S. and here
in Kansas. 
Weekly oil-by-rail shipment totals continue to rise week over week, but still
lag behind year-ago totals. According to the Association of American Railroads,
US totals are down more than 17 percent from last year, but the weekly total of
10,502 tanker cars marks an increase of 128 cars over the week before. Canadian
shipments are down more than 11 percent from last year but increased last week
by more than 700 tankers. 
The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude production last year
dropped by eight percent from the record high set the year before. The decrease
last year was the largest annual decline in EIA records. The agency also noted
last week that February marked the smallest year-over-year decrease in U.S.
fuel consumption since the pandemic began impacting the industry. In its
monthly Short Term Energy Outlook, EIA says February crude prices around the
world jumped eight dollars a barrel from January's average, reflecting
increasing demand expectations and ongoing supply limits from OPEC-plus. 
Preliminary totals from the top oil and gas regulator in the top crude-producing
state in the country show a sizable decline in crude production in December.
The Railroad Commission of Texas reports total crude output of just over 109
million barrels during December, or roughly three and a half million barrels
per day. That's a decline of nearly five percent from the month before and a 23
percent dip from a year earlier. For the year 2020, The Lone Star State pumped
1.46 Billion barrels. That's an average of 3.99 million barrels per day, which
is down from 4.35 million barrels per day the year before. 
Crude production in North Dakota dropped nearly four percent in January totals
released last week. State regulators said output from the #2 crude producing
state totaled 1.15 million [["one point one five million"]] barrels per
day, down 44 thousand barrels per day from the month before. The state
continues to exceed its anti-flaring goals, capturing 94 percent of the natural
gas produced at oil wells. 
A dispute continues between the U.S. and Canada over a 60-year-old pipeline
across the Great Lakes. The fight has been brewing for months between Enbridge
and the Governor of Michigan over "Line-5," the twin pipelines
operating on the lake bottom beneath the Straits of Mackinac
[["MACK-in-awe"]] in northern Michigan. The Detroit Free Press
reports Canada won't take "no" for an answer, calling the continuing
operation of Line-5 "non-negotiable." &nbsp;The pipeline operator has
announced its intention to defy an order from the Michigan Governor to cease
operations in May. Canada's natural resources minister told a legislative
committee he believes Line-5 will remain in operation. The pipeline system
moves 540,000 barrels per day from Duluth to Detroit. 
Now that a number of conservative organizations are backing the idea, three
Democrats in the U.S. Senate are floating a bill that would put the first price
tag on methane emissions from the oil patch. The Methane Emissions Reduction
Act would direct the Treasury Department to assess fees on greenhouse gas
emissions beginning in 2023. In recent weeks both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and the American Petroleum Institute have come out in favor of at least
considering market-based emissions limits. 
A bill filed last week in the Texas Legislature would fight back against some
efforts on Wall Street to boycott fossil fuels. Pressure has been increasing in
recent years for investment firms to reduce their financial support for oil and
gas companies. But The Texas Tribune reports the bill in the Texas Senate would
require state entities to divest from companies that refuse to invest in the
patch. 
ConocoPhillips does not plan to increase capital spending despite better
prices, but announces it will resume it's stock buyback program. The company is
buying back stock at an annualized rate of $1.5 billion, an increase of 50%
compared with the pace in the fourth quarter of last year. That was the point
at which Conoco suspended the program to buy rival producer Concho* Resources. 
The Biden administration will deliver an interim report on oil and gas leases
on public lands by this summer. But officials declined to state how long the
current moratorium could remain in place. Oil and gas from federal reserves in
western states and the Gulf of Mexico make up about a quarter of U.S.
production. A long-term ban on lease sales to address climate change would
fulfill a campaign pledge from Democratic President Joe Biden. But the prospect
has rankled Republicans and petroleum industry representatives, who have said
that Biden is putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk as the economy reels
from the pandemic. Last month, the administration postponed lease sales in the
Gulf of Mexico along with four states — Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. TretbarWith crude prices surging and refinery
utilization plummeting, gasoline pump prices continued to rise. According to
Triple-A, one in ten gas stations nationwide posted prices over three dollars a
gallon last week. The national average price for a gallon of regular is up to
nearly $2.88 per gallon. That's an increase of seven cents on the week, an
increase of 34 cents on the month, and is 64 cents a gallon higher than a year
ago. The average in every state has climbed by double-digits since February.
The average pump price in Kansas is just over two sixty-eight per gallon, an
increase of three cents over a week ago and 34 cents higher than the average
six months ago. Your 15-gallon fill-up will cost you a dollar more than last
week, four dollars more than last month, and nearly ten dollars more than six
months ago. 
Kansas Crude prices are down 75 cents from Monday but remained four dollars
above the first of the month and more than $16 higher than at the first of the
year. A barrel of Kansas Common crude now fetches $55 at CHS in McPherson. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight increase in the rig count in
eastern Kansas, and a slight decline west of Wichita. Operators have drilled to
total depth on a new well in Ellis County, and an operator reports drilling
ahead on a new well in Stafford County. Nationwide the aggregate oil rig count
was down one. Baker Hughes reported an increase of one active rig in Texas, but
said Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Dakota were each down one. 
Kansas regulators okayed 21 new drilling permits last week (through 3/12),
fourteen in eastern Kansas and seven west of Wichita. That's 143 new permits so
far this year. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a newly-completed well in Stafford
County among four west of Wichita. There was one new completion in eastern
Kansas, bringing the total statewide so far this year to 121 newly-completed
wells. 
The government said U.S. crude inventories were up nearly 14 million barrels
last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that's about six
percent above the five-year average for this time of year. After two weeks
below ten million barrels per day, EIA says U.S. operators are now pumping
nearly eleven. Domestic crude production for the week ending March 5 totaled
10.859 million barrels per day, a nine percent increase over the week before.
&nbsp; 
Weekly crude imports were down slightly. The four-week average is nearly 12%
less than the same four-week period a year ago. 
EIA says gasoline stockpiles are about six percent below the five-year seasonal
average after dropping nearly 12 million barrels last week. Triple-A says pump
prices average about eight cents more than a week ago across the U.S. and here
in Kansas. 
Weekly oil-by-rail shipment totals continue to rise week over week, but still
lag behind year-ago totals. According to the Association of American Railroads,
US totals are down more than 17 percent from last year, but the weekly total of
10,502 tanker cars marks an increase of 128 cars over the week before. Canadian
shipments are down more than 11 percent from last year but increased last week
by more than 700 tankers. 
The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude production last year
dropped by eight percent from the record high set the year before. The decrease
last year was the largest annual decline in EIA records. The agency also noted
last week that February marked the smallest year-over-year decrease in U.S.
fuel consumption since the pandemic began impacting the industry. In its
monthly Short Term Energy Outlook, EIA says February crude prices around the
world jumped eight dollars a barrel from January's average, reflecting
increasing demand expectations and ongoing supply limits from OPEC-plus. 
Preliminary totals from the top oil and gas regulator in the top crude-producing
state in the country show a sizable decline in crude production in December.
The Railroad Commission of Texas reports total crude output of just over 109
million barrels during December, or roughly three and a half million barrels
per day. That's a decline of nearly five percent from the month before and a 23
percent dip from a year earlier. For the year 2020, The Lone Star State pumped
1.46 Billion barrels. That's an average of 3.99 million barrels per day, which
is down from 4.35 million barrels per day the year before. 
Crude production in North Dakota dropped nearly four percent in January totals
released last week. State regulators said output from the #2 crude producing
state totaled 1.15 million [["one point one five million"]] barrels per
day, down 44 thousand barrels per day from the month before. The state
continues to exceed its anti-flaring goals, capturing 94 percent of the natural
gas produced at oil wells. 
A dispute continues between the U.S. and Canada over a 60-year-old pipeline
across the Great Lakes. The fight has been brewing for months between Enbridge
and the Governor of Michigan over "Line-5," the twin pipelines
operating on the lake bottom beneath the Straits of Mackinac
[["MACK-in-awe"]] in northern Michigan. The Detroit Free Press
reports Canada won't take "no" for an answer, calling the continuing
operation of Line-5 "non-negotiable." &nbsp;The pipeline operator has
announced its intention to defy an order from the Michigan Governor to cease
operations in May. Canada's natural resources minister told a legislative
committee he believes Line-5 will remain in operation. The pipeline system
moves 540,000 barrels per day from Duluth to Detroit. 
Now that a number of conservative organizations are backing the idea, three
Democrats in the U.S. Senate are floating a bill that would put the first price
tag on methane emissions from the oil patch. The Methane Emissions Reduction
Act would direct the Treasury Department to assess fees on greenhouse gas
emissions beginning in 2023. In recent weeks both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and the American Petroleum Institute have come out in favor of at least
considering market-based emissions limits. 
A bill filed last week in the Texas Legislature would fight back against some
efforts on Wall Street to boycott fossil fuels. Pressure has been increasing in
recent years for investment firms to reduce their financial support for oil and
gas companies. But The Texas Tribune reports the bill in the Texas Senate would
require state entities to divest from companies that refuse to invest in the
patch. 
ConocoPhillips does not plan to increase capital spending despite better
prices, but announces it will resume it's stock buyback program. The company is
buying back stock at an annualized rate of $1.5 billion, an increase of 50%
compared with the pace in the fourth quarter of last year. That was the point
at which Conoco suspended the program to buy rival producer Concho* Resources. 
The Biden administration will deliver an interim report on oil and gas leases
on public lands by this summer. But officials declined to state how long the
current moratorium could remain in place. Oil and gas from federal reserves in
western states and the Gulf of Mexico make up about a quarter of U.S.
production. A long-term ban on lease sales to address climate change would
fulfill a campaign pledge from Democratic President Joe Biden. But the prospect
has rankled Republicans and petroleum industry representatives, who have said
that Biden is putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk as the economy reels
from the pandemic. Last month, the administration postponed lease sales in the
Gulf of Mexico along with four states — Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

News from the Oil Patch (3/17)

Oil traders and producers alike will be watching
this week as producers from the "OPEC Plus" alliance meet to decide
whether to relax the group's production cuts. Prices have rallied to
pre-pandemic levels, but supplies are dwindling at their steepest rate in
twenty years. Bloomberg reports the crude glut that piled up during the
pandemic is vanishing fast, and the "OPEC Plus" group could decide to
increase output. 
Kansas crude prices dropped two dollars on Friday, but will still post February
gains of eight dollars per barrel. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson
starts the week and the month of March at $51.75 per barrel. 
Intent-to-drill notices for the month of February were down by more than half
from totals for the month before and a year earlier. The Kansas Corporation
Commission reports 31 intents filed statewide last month. That's 110 intents
statewide so far this year. Ellis, Russell, and Stafford counties each reported
on new intent-to-drill notice last month. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight increase in the rig count in
Western Kansas this week with 12, and increase of two rigs. East of Wichita,
the count was three active rigs, down three from the week before. Operators
reached total depth at one lease in Ellis County and one lease in Stafford
County. The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes shows an increase of four
oil rigs to the active count of 402.&nbsp; Texas was up three while the count
in New Mexico was up one. 
Kansas regulators okayed six new drilling permits last week, all of them in the
western half of the state. That brings the running total this year to 100
permits for drilling at new locations in Kansas. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service says Kansas operators completed eleven wells
last week, six of them east of Wichita, and five in Western Kansas. Those
include a service well in Russell County and an oil well in Stafford County. 
After a magnitude 4.2 earthquake rumbled under the town of Manchester in
northern Oklahoma on Friday (Feb. 19), regulators there locked down some
oilfield activity over the following weekend. Three disposal wells within three
miles of the epicenter were shut down under the directive, and another 13 wells
were ordered to cut back disposal volumes by half. The Oklahoma Corporation
Commission staff says that amounts to about 7,000 barrels of wastewater per
day. Data supplied by the OCC shows 61 earthquakes of magnitude two or greater
in January, the highest monthly total since May of last year. In part,
officials credit these commission directives limiting wastewater disposal with
the sharp decrease in the seismicity rate in the Sooner State. Oklahoma reached
a monthly peak of nearly 948 earthquakes in March of 2015. Local officials did
not receive any reports of damage or injury from the Manchester quake. 
U.S. crude inventories jumped 1.3 million barrels last week. Stockpiles are
marginally below the five-year average for this time of year. Crude production
dropped by more than a million barrels per day last week. The Energy
Information Administration says current output is just shy of 9.7 Million
barrels per day. Compare that to a year ago, when output was a few barrels
short of 13 million per day. EIA says weekly imports dropped by 1.3 million
barrels per day. The four-week average for imports is down more than 13% from a
year ago. 
Oil-by-rail shipments plummeted during the recent cold snap. The Association of
American Railroads reports just 8.148 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the
week ending February 20. That's down nearly two thousand cars from the week
before, and a nearly 40% drop from a year earlier. 
With the forced shutdown of Gulf Coast and some Midwest refineries due to
winter weather, gasoline stockpiles have tightened and gas prices have
skyrocketed. Triple-A reported the most expensive national average since
October of 2019. Two-thirds of statewide averages were up by double-digits last
week, with spikes of anywhere from ten to 22 cents a gallon. The average across
Kansas on Thursday was over two forty-seven a gallon, an increase of 12 cents over
last week. Pump prices are up to $2.55 a gallon across Hays and $2.57 in Great
Bend. Your 15-gallon fill-up is up more than two dollars from a week ago, up
four dollars from last month, and nearly five dollars higher than last year at
this time. 
Africa's biggest crude producer is playing hardball with one of the world's
largest oil companies. A court in Nigeria has now frozen access to the bank
accounts of Royal Dutch Shell. The action comes amid a legal dispute with a
local producer over a pipeline deal six years ago. The dispute is just one
among a growing list of legal entanglements related to Shell’s business in
Nigeria. A buyer is demanding billions in damages, claiming Shell
misrepresented the condition of the pipeline and under-counted crude volumes.
Shell calls the lawsuit baseless and is working to overturn the court order. 
The government of Canada formalized some new winter safety rules for rail
transport of dangerous goods including petroleum products. The new regulations
include some common-sense items like risk assessments, stronger track
inspection and maintenance programs, and new technology requirements. One will
have an immediate impact on the bottom line of some operators. Trains hauling
large quantities of crude oil or liquid petroleum gases will now face a speed
limit across Canada. These trains can travel up to 35 mph in metro areas and 40
mph at all other places.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. TretbarOil traders and producers alike will be watching
this week as producers from the "OPEC Plus" alliance meet to decide
whether to relax the group's production cuts. Prices have rallied to
pre-pandemic levels, but supplies are dwindling at their steepest rate in
twenty years. Bloomberg reports the crude glut that piled up during the
pandemic is vanishing fast, and the "OPEC Plus" group could decide to
increase output. 
Kansas crude prices dropped two dollars on Friday, but will still post February
gains of eight dollars per barrel. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson
starts the week and the month of March at $51.75 per barrel. 
Intent-to-drill notices for the month of February were down by more than half
from totals for the month before and a year earlier. The Kansas Corporation
Commission reports 31 intents filed statewide last month. That's 110 intents
statewide so far this year. Ellis, Russell, and Stafford counties each reported
on new intent-to-drill notice last month. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports a slight increase in the rig count in
Western Kansas this week with 12, and increase of two rigs. East of Wichita,
the count was three active rigs, down three from the week before. Operators
reached total depth at one lease in Ellis County and one lease in Stafford
County. The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes shows an increase of four
oil rigs to the active count of 402.&nbsp; Texas was up three while the count
in New Mexico was up one. 
Kansas regulators okayed six new drilling permits last week, all of them in the
western half of the state. That brings the running total this year to 100
permits for drilling at new locations in Kansas. 
Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service says Kansas operators completed eleven wells
last week, six of them east of Wichita, and five in Western Kansas. Those
include a service well in Russell County and an oil well in Stafford County. 
After a magnitude 4.2 earthquake rumbled under the town of Manchester in
northern Oklahoma on Friday (Feb. 19), regulators there locked down some
oilfield activity over the following weekend. Three disposal wells within three
miles of the epicenter were shut down under the directive, and another 13 wells
were ordered to cut back disposal volumes by half. The Oklahoma Corporation
Commission staff says that amounts to about 7,000 barrels of wastewater per
day. Data supplied by the OCC shows 61 earthquakes of magnitude two or greater
in January, the highest monthly total since May of last year. In part,
officials credit these commission directives limiting wastewater disposal with
the sharp decrease in the seismicity rate in the Sooner State. Oklahoma reached
a monthly peak of nearly 948 earthquakes in March of 2015. Local officials did
not receive any reports of damage or injury from the Manchester quake. 
U.S. crude inventories jumped 1.3 million barrels last week. Stockpiles are
marginally below the five-year average for this time of year. Crude production
dropped by more than a million barrels per day last week. The Energy
Information Administration says current output is just shy of 9.7 Million
barrels per day. Compare that to a year ago, when output was a few barrels
short of 13 million per day. EIA says weekly imports dropped by 1.3 million
barrels per day. The four-week average for imports is down more than 13% from a
year ago. 
Oil-by-rail shipments plummeted during the recent cold snap. The Association of
American Railroads reports just 8.148 tanker cars hauling petroleum for the
week ending February 20. That's down nearly two thousand cars from the week
before, and a nearly 40% drop from a year earlier. 
With the forced shutdown of Gulf Coast and some Midwest refineries due to
winter weather, gasoline stockpiles have tightened and gas prices have
skyrocketed. Triple-A reported the most expensive national average since
October of 2019. Two-thirds of statewide averages were up by double-digits last
week, with spikes of anywhere from ten to 22 cents a gallon. The average across
Kansas on Thursday was over two forty-seven a gallon, an increase of 12 cents over
last week. Pump prices are up to $2.55 a gallon across Hays and $2.57 in Great
Bend. Your 15-gallon fill-up is up more than two dollars from a week ago, up
four dollars from last month, and nearly five dollars higher than last year at
this time. 
Africa's biggest crude producer is playing hardball with one of the world's
largest oil companies. A court in Nigeria has now frozen access to the bank
accounts of Royal Dutch Shell. The action comes amid a legal dispute with a
local producer over a pipeline deal six years ago. The dispute is just one
among a growing list of legal entanglements related to Shell’s business in
Nigeria. A buyer is demanding billions in damages, claiming Shell
misrepresented the condition of the pipeline and under-counted crude volumes.
Shell calls the lawsuit baseless and is working to overturn the court order. 
The government of Canada formalized some new winter safety rules for rail
transport of dangerous goods including petroleum products. The new regulations
include some common-sense items like risk assessments, stronger track
inspection and maintenance programs, and new technology requirements. One will
have an immediate impact on the bottom line of some operators. Trains hauling
large quantities of crude oil or liquid petroleum gases will now face a speed
limit across Canada. These trains can travel up to 35 mph in metro areas and 40
mph at all other places.

News From the Oil Patch (3/1)

John P. Tretbar Operators continue to enjoy the highest prices in more than a year. U.S. crude futures prices jumped more than three percent Monday, topping $61 a barrel for the first time since early January of last year. By noon, the near-month contract for light sweet crude was up nearly two dollars at $61.13 per barrel. London Brent was also up three percent at $64.65 per barrel. The government says gasoline inventories are increasing, signaling decreasing demand. But prices continue to rise at pumps across the country, largely due to spiking crude-oil prices. The Energy Information Administration says total motor gasoline inventories increased by 700-thousand barrels last week and are about 1% above the five year average for this time of year. But gasoline prices have already topped last year's more than three dozen states. The motor club AAA said the gasoline price spike kept up with spiking crude-oil prices, and predicted both would soon top the highest prices of last year. The national average price at the pump last week was just over $2.57. Nearly 40 state average pump prices had already topped last year's highs, with half of those seeing double-digit increases. Kansas was the tenth cheapest state in the U.S. last week, with an average of just over $2.35 per gallon. That's up nearly eight cents over a week ago, and eighteen cents a gallon higher than a month ago. Filling up your 15-gallon tank cost just over $36, up more than a dollar from last week and nearly two dollars more than last month.&nbsp; Cold weather wreaked havoc in the oil patch last week. Output was down by more than two million barrels per day as the coldest weather in 30 years hits states that aren't used to it. Quoting unnamed traders and company executives, Bloomberg reported supply losses in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, along with the Eagle Ford play in southern Texas and the Anadarko basin in Oklahoma.&nbsp; The cold snap was good news for small natural gas producers. The freeze is giving a rare boost to a market that’s never recovered from a crash more than a ten years ago. As Texas output is disrupted by frozen pipes, prices have surged more than 4,000% in Oklahoma. &nbsp; The Rig Count in Kansas last week was unchanged statewide, down one east of Wichita and up one in Western Kansas. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service notes that operators have now reached total depth at new well in Ellis County and another in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reports the national rig count was unchanged. The count of oil rigs was up one, while the gas rig count was down one. Texas and North Dakota were each up one rig, while Louisiana and Alaska both dropped by one.&nbsp; There were just four new permits filed last week in Kansas. All of them were in counties east of Wichita. That's 94 permits for drilling at new locations in Kansas so far this year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 16 newly-completed wells across Kansas last week, eight of them east of Wichita and eight in Western Kansas, including two in Ellis County. The government says U.S. crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 7.3 million barrels during the week ending February 12. The Energy Information Administration reports inventories are right at the five-year average for this time of year. EIA reports U.S. crude imports rose 41-thousand barrels per day last week. We currently import an average of 5.9 million barrels per day. Over the last four weeks, imports have averaged 13% less than the same four-week period last year. U.S. crude-oil production dropped below 11 million barrels per day last week, and remains more than two million barrels per day behind year-ago totals. In a monthly report, the government predicts total shale production in the U.S. will continue to decline. Output from the seven major shale plays tracked by EIA will drop 77-thousand barrels per day in March, to just over 7.5 million barrels per day. That would mark the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Shale production accounts for roughly three-fourths of U.S. crude-oil production. Regulators in North Dakota say production continues to drop in the #2 U.S. crude-producing state. The Department of Mineral Resources reported output of 1.19 million [["one point one nine million"]] barrels per day in December, down nearly 35-thousand barrels per day from the month before. Declining production in North Dakota has helped the state meet its environmental goals. In its latest report, DMR reported a 93 percent gas-capture rate. That means of all the natural gas produced at oil wells in North Dakota, only seven percent was vented or burned at the well head. During it's initial oil boom, the state's operators flared four times that amount. Last year marked the first in which the U.S. was a net petroleum exporter, exporting more petroleum than we imported on an annual basis. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says declining imports drove the shift, but now predicts we will return to net importer status for the next two years. In it's Short Term Energy Outlook, the government predicts U.S. petroleum consumption will continue to recover from the effects of the pandemic, growing by seven percent this year and another five percent next year.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1577125598039.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>John P. Tretbar Operators continue to enjoy the highest prices in more than a year. U.S. crude futures prices jumped more than three percent Monday, topping $61 a barrel for the first time since early January of last year. By noon, the near-month contract for light sweet crude was up nearly two dollars at $61.13 per barrel. London Brent was also up three percent at $64.65 per barrel. The government says gasoline inventories are increasing, signaling decreasing demand. But prices continue to rise at pumps across the country, largely due to spiking crude-oil prices. The Energy Information Administration says total motor gasoline inventories increased by 700-thousand barrels last week and are about 1% above the five year average for this time of year. But gasoline prices have already topped last year's more than three dozen states. The motor club AAA said the gasoline price spike kept up with spiking crude-oil prices, and predicted both would soon top the highest prices of last year. The national average price at the pump last week was just over $2.57. Nearly 40 state average pump prices had already topped last year's highs, with half of those seeing double-digit increases. Kansas was the tenth cheapest state in the U.S. last week, with an average of just over $2.35 per gallon. That's up nearly eight cents over a week ago, and eighteen cents a gallon higher than a month ago. Filling up your 15-gallon tank cost just over $36, up more than a dollar from last week and nearly two dollars more than last month.&nbsp; Cold weather wreaked havoc in the oil patch last week. Output was down by more than two million barrels per day as the coldest weather in 30 years hits states that aren't used to it. Quoting unnamed traders and company executives, Bloomberg reported supply losses in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, along with the Eagle Ford play in southern Texas and the Anadarko basin in Oklahoma.&nbsp; The cold snap was good news for small natural gas producers. The freeze is giving a rare boost to a market that’s never recovered from a crash more than a ten years ago. As Texas output is disrupted by frozen pipes, prices have surged more than 4,000% in Oklahoma. &nbsp; The Rig Count in Kansas last week was unchanged statewide, down one east of Wichita and up one in Western Kansas. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service notes that operators have now reached total depth at new well in Ellis County and another in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reports the national rig count was unchanged. The count of oil rigs was up one, while the gas rig count was down one. Texas and North Dakota were each up one rig, while Louisiana and Alaska both dropped by one.&nbsp; There were just four new permits filed last week in Kansas. All of them were in counties east of Wichita. That's 94 permits for drilling at new locations in Kansas so far this year. Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service reports 16 newly-completed wells across Kansas last week, eight of them east of Wichita and eight in Western Kansas, including two in Ellis County. The government says U.S. crude-oil stockpiles dropped by 7.3 million barrels during the week ending February 12. The Energy Information Administration reports inventories are right at the five-year average for this time of year. EIA reports U.S. crude imports rose 41-thousand barrels per day last week. We currently import an average of 5.9 million barrels per day. Over the last four weeks, imports have averaged 13% less than the same four-week period last year. U.S. crude-oil production dropped below 11 million barrels per day last week, and remains more than two million barrels per day behind year-ago totals. In a monthly report, the government predicts total shale production in the U.S. will continue to decline. Output from the seven major shale plays tracked by EIA will drop 77-thousand barrels per day in March, to just over 7.5 million barrels per day. That would mark the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Shale production accounts for roughly three-fourths of U.S. crude-oil production. Regulators in North Dakota say production continues to drop in the #2 U.S. crude-producing state. The Department of Mineral Resources reported output of 1.19 million [["one point one nine million"]] barrels per day in December, down nearly 35-thousand barrels per day from the month before. Declining production in North Dakota has helped the state meet its environmental goals. In its latest report, DMR reported a 93 percent gas-capture rate. That means of all the natural gas produced at oil wells in North Dakota, only seven percent was vented or burned at the well head. During it's initial oil boom, the state's operators flared four times that amount. Last year marked the first in which the U.S. was a net petroleum exporter, exporting more petroleum than we imported on an annual basis. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says declining imports drove the shift, but now predicts we will return to net importer status for the next two years. In it's Short Term Energy Outlook, the government predicts U.S. petroleum consumption will continue to recover from the effects of the pandemic, growing by seven percent this year and another five percent next year.