By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Since June, prices for regular gasoline have dropped more than a $1.30 per gallon, but diesel prices remain at or above $5 a gallon, as they have for more than 22 weeks. The government last week said diesel inventories are near historic lows, 19% below the five-year seasonal average. Stockpiles of regular gasoline are about six percent below the five-year seasonal average. The auto club AAA says the national average pump price for regular gasoline is $3.80 per gallon, more than four cents higher than a week ago, but nine cents lower than a month ago, and well below the record highs we paid in June. At $5.33 per gallon, national diesel prices are three cents higher than a week ago, 42 cents higher than last month at this time, and $1.69 higher than a year ago. In Kansas, diesel is down a seven cents from a week ago, but up more than 34 cents over a month ago, and a $1.60 higher than a year ago.
Friday's settlement for Nymex near-month light sweet crude was up more than four dollars to $92.61 per barrel. That's nearly five dollars higher than a week ago. On Monday, prices continued to rise, up another half dollar, with WTI trading over $93 per barrel, and London Brent approaching $99.
Kansas Common crude starts the week at $82.75 per barrel, after jumping nearly four dollars on Friday. Prices at CHS in McPherson last month averaged a fraction of a cent below $77 a barrel, from a low of $69.75 to a high of $83 per barrel.
The government reported a big drop in U.S. crude-oil inventories last week, down 3.1 million barrels from the week before. At 436.8 million barrels, stockpiles are about three percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude production dropped to 11.946 million barrels per day, down 85,000 barrels per day. Output is still about half a million barrels per day higher than last year at this time. EIA reported domestic crude imports of 6.2 million barrels per day for the week through October 28th, an increase of 25,000 barrels per day.
U.S. operators pumped over 371 million barrels of crude oil in August, the latest numbers released by the Energy Information Administration. That's an average of 11.975 million barrels per day. Kansas output in August reached 2.5 million barrels for the second month in a row. That's about 81,000 barrels per day, an uptick of a tenth of a percent over the month before, and a five percent bump over August of last year.
Oil-by-rail traffic in the U.S. rose by 140 tanker carloads last week, up six percent year-over-year. Petroleum products are one of five U.S. commodity groups posting rail-traffic increases in the week through October 29th, according to the Association of American Railroads. Canadian oil-by-rail was up 364 carloads for the week, a three percent increase over the same week a year ago.
The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes shows 770 active drilling rigs across the U.S., an increase of three oil rigs and one fewer gas rig. North Dakota was up two rigs. The counts in Oklahoma and Texas were each up one.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reported a drop in the Kansas Rig Count of 11 rigs based solely on the elimination of "inactive rigs" that are no longer in business. There are 17 active rigs in eastern Kansas and 33 west of Wichita. Drilling was underway Friday on one lease in Barton County and two in Ellis County. Operators were about to start or resume drilling on two leases in Ellis County and one in Russell County.
Kansas regulators reports 115 new intent-to-drill notices across the state last month, including three in Barton County, five in Ellis County and one in Stafford County. The Kansas Corporation Commission reports 1,457 intents across the state so far this year, an increase of 430 compared to last year at this time.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 27 newly-completed wells for the week across Kansas. There are 11 east of Wichita and 16 in Western Kansas, including one well in Ellis County. Operators have completed 1,358 wells so far this year, compared to 753 at this time last year.
The Kansas Geological Society's Nomenclature committee approved and named ten new oil fields in Kansas at its meeting last week. New fields were named in Graham, Gove, Hodgeman, Ness and Sheridan counties. That's 29 new fields so far this year compared to 46 at this time last year.
Kansas regulators okayed 57 new drilling locations in the week through November 3rd, with 36 in eastern Kansas and 21 west of Wichita, including one new permit in Barton County. That's 1,400 new permits so far this year, compared to 966 at this time last year.