By JOHN P TRETBARNews from the Oil Patch
One of the biggest players in the natural gas industry is poised to get much bigger. The Williams Companies, based in Tulsa, are on the verge of buying Momentum Midstream, along with that company's four thousand miles of natural-gas pipelines, and its customer base of nearly 150 large-scale end-users. Sources tell Bloomberg the deal is priced at $5.5 BILLION. Williams already handles about one-third of the natural gas used in American homes and power plants, with operations in the Gulf, the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, and the Eastern Seaboard.
India's oil imports from Russia are expected to hit a record high this month of about 2.7 million barrels per day, up more than half a million daily barrels from May. Russian oil accounts for more than half of India's overall imports, up from 36.5 percent in May. India is the world's third-largest oil importer, but Reuters reports shortfalls from the Middle East have prompted them to shop around.
The U.S. Treasury issued a 60-day license that authorizes the production, delivery and sale of oil from Iran. It allows the importation of Iranian crude to the United States, and allows payment for the oil to be made in dollars. The changes are part of the join Memorandum of Understanding signed last week. The license expires Aug. 21st.
Inventories continue to drop, as production continues to rise. Both are at, or near, historic levels. Commercial stockpiles drop more than six million barrels to just over 412 million barrels as of June 19. That's the lowest total since January of last year, and the 12th lowest weekly total in recent memory. The Energy Information Administration reports regular gasoline stockpiles are up two percent from last week. Diesel inventories are up more than three percent.
Strategic crude-oil stockpiles dropped another nine million barrels last week. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves now hold just over 331 million barrels, down from just over 400 million barrels a year ago. A new report is expected on Wednesday.
US crude production rose by 13,000 barrels a day to the seventh best weekly average ever. EIA reports US average output rose to 13,819,000 barrels per day this week. The four-week average and the cumulative production average so far this year are each up about two percent from a year ago.
Weekly government reporting shows over 5.5 million barrels a day of crude-oil imports this week. That's up 400-thousand barrels a day from last week, down 400-thousand from a year ago, and down more than a million barrels from two years ago. Canada shipped us 3.5 million barrels a day this week, down slightly from last week. At second, imports from Venezuela are up eight percent to 578-thousand daily barrels. (These numbers were reported a few days before that country was hit by a pair of deadly earthquakes that ravaged Venezuela) Imports from Saudi Arabia drop to zero but imports from Iraq jumped to 71-thousand barrels a day this week.
EIA says US crude exports rose by 342-thousand barrels this week, to 4.6 million per day.
The Kansas Geological Society recognized and formally named three new oil fields in Kansas for completions in May. That brings the total so far this year to eight. The new fields are in Norton, Rawlins and Sumner counties.Operators in Kansas completed 47 wells this week, including 13 oil wells and 11 service wells in Bourbon County, and seven wells in Rooks County. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 27 new well-completions east of Wichita, and 20 in Western Kansas. The list includes wells in Barton, Ellis Finney Graham Rice, and Rooks counties. That's 395 completions statewide so far this year, compared to 593 by this time last year.
Out of 24 new drilling permits this week 14 are in Anderson County. Of the rest, five are west of Wichita, including new drilling locations in Ellis, Gove, Rooks and Stafford counties.
This week's Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is up 21-percent from last week, down 15-percent from last month, but up 41-percent from last year. The count in eastern Kansas is unchanged at six, while the tally west of Wichita is up three to eleven rigs. Drilling operations are underway Friday on leases in Ellis, Stafford, Gove and Finney counties.
The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes is up seven oil rigs and three gas rigs to a total of 573, up 26 rigs from a year ago. The Texas tally is up seven rigs to 268 active drilling rigs, nearly half of the national total. Louisiana is down two rigs; Oklahoma is up two. Wyoming and Utah are each up one rig.