By John P. Tretbar
Operators in The Sunflower State completed 29 wells last month. That's 874 so far this year, compared to 742 through the first six months of last year. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 20 new well-completions west of Wichita, with three in Barton County, two are in Ellis County, and one is in Stafford County. Kansas regulators approved 17 new drilling locations in Kansas last week, with nine in Western Kansas. That's 651 new permits statewide so far this year, compared to 759 at the end of the second quarter of 2022.
Kansas crude prices end the month of June at $61 per barrel, about thirty cents higher than the average for the month, and 75-cents higher than at the first of the month. The benchmark crude futures contract settled 78 cents higher on Friday, topping $70 for the first time in a week, but well within the ten-dollar trading range of the last three months. By Monday morning prices were a few cents higher, just under $71 a barrel in New York, and nearly $76 per barrel in London.
The government reports a big drop in crude stockpiles. The Energy Information Administration said crude inventories as of June 23rd are about one percent below the five-year seasonal average at nearly 454 million barrels. That's down 9.6 million barrels for the week. Despite a long string of weekly increases, gasoline and diesel stockpiles are below average. EIA says gasoline inventories are seven percent below the five-year seasonal average, while diesel stocks are 14% below average.
EIA reported crude production in the United States increased slightly to just over twelve-and-a-quarter million barrels per day. That's up two thousand barrels for the week, and 104-thousand barrels per day ahead of last year.
The government said imports were up nearly half a million barrels per day from a week ago at 6.6 million barrels per day. The four-week average is slightly higher than the same four weeks last year.
Weekly US drilling-rig tallies show a drop in exploration for natural gas. The aggregate total was 674 active rigs last week, down one oil rig and six gas rigs across the US. Baker Hughes noted a big swing in the Haynesville Shale formation of Louisiana and East Texas, the third-largest gas producing formation in the US. The count in Louisiana was down four rigs. Texas was also down four. Oklahoma was down two rigs from last week, while New Mexico was up by two active rigs.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil & Gas Service notes 16 active drilling rigs east of Wichita, which is up one, and 25 in Western Kansas, which is down one. The total counts lag behind last year by nearly 27% but are up nearly eight percent from a month ago. Drilling was underway on Friday on three leases in Barton County.
Norway is moving forward with new offshore oil-and-gas investments that top $18 BILLION. The Energy Ministry on Wednesday announced 19 new developments, build-outs of existing fields and enhanced oil recovery projects in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea. Bloomberg reports Norway is now the biggest supplier of natural gas to Europe in the aftermath of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and will likely continue to see strong demand as buyers turn their back on Russian energy.
Crude storage at Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub rises to the highest level in two years. Reuters reports outages at a pair of Midwest refineries have backed up inventories even as increased flows arrived from Canada. Cushing is the delivery point for US crude futures. Stockpiles there have climbed for eight consecutive weeks after falling earlier in the year. Analysts suggest overseas demand and an end to the refinery outages should reverse the buildup. Data from the Energy Information Administration showed Cushing stockpiles rose to 42.1 million barrels in the week through June 9th. That's the highest level since since June 2021.
Editor's note: The story was updated to reflect proper credit for the information from the Independent Oil and Gas Service.