By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
Adjusted numbers from Kansas regulators show intent-to-drill notices increased by 51 in the month of November for a year-to-date total of 697 intents, up 134 intents from November of last year. An online search at the Kansas Corporation Commission Web site shows one new intent notice last month in Ellis County, three in Stafford County, and two each in Finney, Gove, and Haskell counties.
Regulators in The Sunflower State okayed eight new drilling permits this week with five in Western Kansas, including one new drilling location in Stafford County. That's 617 new drilling permits this year, compared with 1,071 by this time last year.
Operators completed 15 new wells in Kansas this week, or 1,042 so far this year. That's about two hundred wells behind last year at this time. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports ten new well-completions in Western Kansas, including one in Barton County, one in Stafford County, and two wells in Haskell County.
The Kansas Rig Count is down 23 percent from a month ago and is 58 percent lower than a year ago, but it's unchanged from last week. At 13 rigs, the tally from Independent Oil and Gas Service is down three east of Wichita, and up three at ten active rigs in Western Kansas. On Friday, operators in Stafford County report drilling about to begin on one lease, continuing on another, and about to wrap up on a third. Drilling is also reported on leases in Finney and Gove counties.
The weekly Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes is up six oil rigs for a total of 549 rigs nationwide. The report from Louisiana is up four rigs. New Mexico is up one.
Domestic crude production reports from the government surpassed 13.8 million barrels a day for the fourth week in a row and only the fourth time in history. The Energy Information Administration reports nationwide crude-oil production averages 13,815,000 barrels per day, up a thousand barrels a day from a week ago. Four-week average output is over 13.8 million, up three percent or nearly half a million daily barrels from a year ago. Cumulative output so far this year is nearly 13.5 million barrels a day.
Crude imports drop a few barrels below six million a day. That's down nearly half a million daily barrels from a week ago, 1.2 million barrels a day from a year ago, and down 1.5 million daily barrels from two years ago. The Energy Information Administration reports crude exports are up slightly to just over 3.6 million barrels a day. The four-week average is just over 3.5 million, which is down 15 percent from a year ago.
Commercial crude-oil inventories rose by 600,000 barrels compared to a week ago. At 427.5 million barrels, US stockpiles are up four million barrels from a year ago, but remain about three percent below the five-year seasonal average.
The government reports another 300,000 barrels in refills at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has increased nearly 20 million barrels in the last year, and now totals just over 411 million barrels.
Between exports and A.I., US natural gas production is about to spike. A study published by one of the nation's biggest oil and gas producers asserts that power demand for Artificial Intelligence will likely boost natural gas production by ten to 15 percent in next five years or so. The Hamm Institute for American Energy says the A.I. demand spike will coincide with increased demand for Liquefied Natural Gas exports. Over the last decade the data center industry has added about 500 megawatts of new capacity each year. The study asserts that rate tripled in 2022, and has doubled again since then. Current construction suggests it will double again this year. The capacity added so far this year will surpass ten gigawatts, enough to power peak demand New York City.
By this time next year, the government plans to replace the Biden Administration's offshore energy leasing plan, the smallest ever published, with the Trump Administration's much larger program. The American Oil and Gas Reporter published details of the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which proposes 34 potential offshore lease sales and over one billion acres. That would include 21 new areas off the coast of Alaska, seven in the U.S. Gulf, and six along the Pacific Coast.