By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Monday's settlement price for September crude on the Nymex was down $2.68 to $89.41 per barrel. Monday's price for Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson was down to $79.75 per barrel. That's down more $3.50 from a week earlier and $4.50 lower than at the first of the month.
US gasoline prices dipped below four dollars a gallon for the first time since February. The auto club AAA pegs the national average pump price Tuesday (8/16) at $3.94 per gallon. That's down more than a dollar a gallon in the last two months. The average across Kansas is down to $3.53 per gallon.
Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir is hoping you can help solve a $10,000 oilfield theft earlier this month. Sheriff Bellendir says 100 joints of oil well tubing were stolen from a lease near Hitschman, Kansas on August 4th. If you can help, call Crimestoppers at 888-305-1300.
Operators (Friday) were drilling on two leases in Ellis County and were about to spud a new well in Stafford County. So far this year, 197 operators in Kansas have spudded 888 wells, an increase of 60% over a year ago. Independent Oil & Gas Service is currently scouting 442 wells in various stages of drilling and completion. The Rig Count in eastern Kansas was unchanged at 25 rigs, while the count west of Wichita was 35 active rigs, up two for the week.
Baker Hughes reports 763 active drilling rigs across the US, marking an increase of three oil rigs. The count in Texas was down one while Oklahoma was up one from a week ago.
Kansas regulators okayed 35 new drilling locations last week, with 14 in Western Kansas, including one each in Barton, Russell and Stafford counties. There are 1,001 new drilling permits across the state so far this year, compared to 605 a year ago.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 37 newly-completed wells across Kansas last week, 15 of them in the eastern half of the state, and 22 west of Wichita, including two in Barton County and one in Ellis County. Operators have completed 973 wells across the state so far this year compared to 492 wells by this time last year.
Domestic crude inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels last week to 432 million barrels. That's about five percent below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Gasoline stockpiles dropped by five million barrels and are about six percent below the five-year seasonal average.
The government said crude imports in the US last week were down 1.2 million barrels per day. Four-week average imports are down slightly from last year.
US crude-oil production last week topped 12 million barrels per day for the 8th week in a row. EIA reports output of 12.233 million barrels per day for the week through August 5th, an increase of nearly 100,000 barrels per day from the week before.
Oil-by-rail traffic in the US was down slightly last week to 9,681 tanker carloads. The Association of American Railroads reports US shipments are down five percent from a year ago. Oil-by-rail cargoes were also down slightly in Canada.
Devon Energy will pay nearly two billion dollars to acquire Validus Energy. The purchase will dramatically expand its footprint in the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas. The $1.8 billion deal involves about 35,000 barrels per day in current production from about 42,000 net acres adjacent to Devon's current leasehold in the Eagle Ford.
A class-action lawsuit brought against four energy companies in the aftermath of Oklahoma's largest-ever earthquake could soon bear fruit. One of the defendant-companies has agreed to pay $850,000 to the plaintiffs to settle its portion of the lawsuit. Eagle Road denies allegations that it played a role in the quakes. The offer from the wastewater disposal well operator is on the docket for a fairness hearing next month. Litigation will continue against three other firms. The suit was filed in November 2016 after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit Pawnee and a 5.0 quake struck near Cushing — both of which caused significant damage to homes and buildings.