By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Kansas crude prices have had their ups and downs just like the national and international variety. Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson began the month at $89.50 per barrel. It jumped four dollars by the fourth, and then dropped to $86.25 per barrel on Thursday the 7th. On Friday prices jumped two dollars to wind up at $88.50, a dollar less than at the first of the month.
The benchmark Nymex crude futures contract dropped nearly three percent in lunchtime trading Monday (4/11), shedding $2.86 to drop to $95.40 per barrel. London Brent was down $3.15 at $99.64/bbl.
The closely-watched Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes reached 689 rigs Friday, an increase of 13 active oil rigs and three drilling for natural gas. The count in Texas was up 11 rigs.
Independent Oil and Gas is tracking 355 wells currently in stages of new drilling or completion, compared with just 155 a year ago. In Kansas this year, 101 different operators had spudded 313 wells, a big bump over last year at this time. Drilling activity based on spudded wells is up 93% over last year. Drilling rig counts last week were down one in eastern Kansas and up four rigs west of Wichita. Preparations are underway to spud a new well in Barton County. Operators were drilling Friday on a lease in Barton County and one in Stafford County.
Regulators across Kansas okayed 31 new drilling locations last week, with sixteen east of Wichita and 15 in Western Kansas, including one in Barton County and two in Stafford County. That's 407 new drilling permits so far this year, compared to 212 at this time last year.
Operators in Kansas completed 20 new wells in the week through April 7th, according to Independent Oil and Gas Service, with 12 east of Wichita and eight in the western half of the state. They include one new well in Barton County, one in Ellis County and one in Stafford County. The year-to-date total is 433 wells, compared to 187 a year ago.
Sanctions against Russia are having at least one unexpected adverse effect on the rest of the world. Since the invasion, many Western Countries have banned Russian crude-oil imports. Bloomberg reports some countries, and companies, are shunning the use of Russia's massive fleet of oil tankers. A shipping analyst points out that a Russian state-owned firm boasts the largest fleet in the world of tankers in the versatile Aframax weight class. But now that firm is being shunned by global oil traders, leaving fewer tankers available, and that's driving up shipping rates.
The outlook is dimmed for crude oil demand in the world’s second-largest consumer, amid the continued increase in Coronavirus cases and the extended lockdown in Shanghai. Daily cases by Friday had topped 20,000. Because of the movement restrictions and the lockdown, China’s oil demand is already lower. Bloomberg reports demand in China is already down an estimated 1.2 to 1.3 million barrels per day.
ExxonMobil received government and regulator approvals for the final leg of its huge Yellowtail development offshore Guyana in South America. The project is expected to produce approximately a quarter-million barrels per day starting in 2025. The $10 billion project will include six drill centers and up to 26 production wells and 25 injection wells.
A trade group says the US oilfield services and equipment sector added 2,698 jobs last month, bringing total employment to over 608,000 nationwide. That's according to analysis of government numbers by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council. The employment totals are the highest since September 2021, but still short of the pre-pandemic mark set in February 2020.
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas set a record high last year, increasing 50% from the year before. The Energy Information Administration says expanding US capacity and rising demand in Asia and Europe fueled the increases. US Exports to Asia were up 51%, making us their third-largest supplier, accounting for 12% of the total. South Korea and China are the top two US customers in Asia.
Investigators believe high winds are responsible for an oil-field fatality in northern Oklahoma last week. Authorities believe the wind tipped over a rotary drilling rig near Blackwell, Oklahoma. One man was killed and another was injured after both were pinned beneath the fallen rig.
Taxpayers in New Mexico will soon get a rebate from their state government to offset the high cost of gasoline. Lawmakers approved a deal under which taxpayers in the number-two crude producing state get $500 apiece to offset higher prices at the pump. New Mexico has a surplus of at least $1-billion thanks largely to the boom in oil and gas production there.
A new study with new methodology, funded in part by the fossil fuel industry, shows a much bigger methane problem in the Permian Basin than earlier studies showed. Researchers used sensors on small airplanes to detect methane emissions over some 26,000 active wells. The results showed methane emissions were roughly equal to about nine percent of the overall gas production in the area. That's more than double the rate shown in prior studies. A few bad actors, about 1,000 sites, were responsible for most of the emissions. An industry spokesman tells the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that since much of the data is now two years old it may not reflect today's conditions. But he added the industry is committed to bringing those numbers down.
Government and industry officials in North Dakota are casting a wary eye on the price of crude. There is a price-trigger established by lawmakers eight years ago that raises the state tax on crude oil, from ten to eleven percent, if the Nymex benchmark price averages over $95 a barrel for three consecutive months. March marked the first month since 2014 in which that has happened. The Forum newspaper quotes the governor urging discussion with the Legislature about possible changes.