News from the Oil Patch, May 8
John P Tretbar
Energy production payrolls in April rose to their highest total since March of 2020, but not quite to the pre-pandemic high reached in February of that year. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, oilfield services and equipment employment increased by 5,143 jobs in April to a total of more than 662-thousand people. Employment gains were seen in six of the seven job-categories tracked.
Oil and gas infrastructure in western Alberta, Canada shut down over the weekend amid a state of emergency, as more than 100 different wildfires burned out of control. Some 30-thousand people evacuated, including operators and support teams in the Fox Creek energy cluster northwest of Edmonton. Operators shut in tens of thousands of barrels of oil and gas production and dozens of pipelines.
Kansas regulators report 104 new intent-to-drill notices filed statewide last month. That's 448 intents so far this year, compared to 511 by the end of April last year. A search of the Web site of the Kansas Corporation Commission returns six new intents last month in Barton County, three in Ellis County and three in Stafford County. The tally so far this year in Barton County is 19 new intent-to-drill notices. Ellis County shows 16. Just three new intents on file in Russell County so far this year, and 15 in Stafford County.
The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes dropped by seven rigs, with the tally in Texas down nine. Separate counts show the count in the Permian Basin down five rigs and the Eagle Ford Basin was down three.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil & Gas Service was down one east of Wichita at 12 active rigs. in Western Kansas the tally is up two at 22 rigs, with drilling underway Friday on leases in Barton and Ellis counties and about to commence on another lease in Stafford County. IOGSI reports 423 wells spudded statewide so far this year, down 57 wells from last year. Total footage is a little over 1.1 million feet, down 23% from a year ago.
Kansas regulators gave their okay to 26 new drilling locations last week, 442 so far this year, compared to 502 a year ago. Out of 12 new drilling permits west of Wichita, two are in Ellis County and one is in Stafford County. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 42 newly-completed wells in Kansas during the week through May 4, 638 so far this year. That's up from 562 last year at this time.
The Energy Information Administration last week (5/3) reported US stockpiles dropped 1.3 million barrels from a week earlier and are about two percent below the five year average for this time of year.
US crude production in the week through April 28 averaged over 12.3 million barrels per day, an increase of more than 100,000 barrels per day over the week before, and nearly half a million barrels per day higher than a year ago. US crude imports increased slightly last week to 6.4 million barrels per day. The four week average is nearly five percent higher than the same four weeks last year.
The world's largest crude exporter cuts prices for it's largest customers. Saudi Aramco sells about 60% of its crude shipments in Asia. Those customers next month will pay 25 cents-per-barrel less than this month. Closer to home, light sweet crude in New York was down more than three dollars Wednesday to settle at $68.60 per barrel, the lowest settlement since March 20th. Prices held steady by midday Thursday, with near-month Nymex crude trading a few cents under $69 and London Brent just under $73 a barrel.
The government credits warmer winter weather for a dramatic drop in propane consumption. The Energy Information Administration says US propane consumption during the just-ended winter heating season was 1.2 million barrels per day, the lowest seasonal average on record. EIA says the averages for the three coldest months of the year, December, January and February, each matched the all-time record monthly low of 1.1 million barrels per day.
Oil-by-Rail traffic in the US last week was up 322 tanker carloads from the week before. The Association of American Railroads reports the tally for the week through April 29th was up 15% compared to last year at this time. Canadian traffic was up week-over-week, but down 13% compared to a year ago.