By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
The traditional link between rig activity and energy production has weakened recently, with output at record highs despite reduced rig counts. A government report offers two reasons, from different sides of the ledger. Operators are getting more efficient at producing with fewer rigs, and they're reining in resources due to low prices. Production is through the roof, with weekly records now commonplace. The average number of active rigs per month has declined steadily from a recent peak of 750 rigs in December 2022 to 517 rigs this October.
The tallies from Baker Hughes this week increased three oil rigs, and dropped by three gas rigs, for a total of 549 active drilling rigs nationwide. The counts in Oklahoma and North Dakota were each down one, Louisiana was up one, and New Mexico was up two rigs.
Some movement of rigs, but not of the rig count, in Kansas. Independent Oil and Gas reports eight active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, up four from last week, and nine rigs west of Wichita, which is down four. The total is unchanged for the week and the month, but down 43 percent from a year ago. Drilling was underway or about to begin Friday on leases in Ellis and Finney counties.
Independent Oil and Gas Service lists producing wells in Ellis, Russell and Stafford Counties out of 18 well completions west of Wichita. Also on the list are a pair of wells in Gove County and one in Haskell County.
Regulators okayed eleven new drilling permit locations across Kansas, 598 so far this year. Last year at this time there were 985 new drilling locations approved. There are five new permits in eastern Kansas, and six in the western half of the state, including one in Ellis County and two in Gove county.
For the last five weeks, crude-oil production in the United States has exceeded 13.6 million barrels a day, and all but one of those weeks set a record. This week, output is over 13.8 million, rising a startling 211,000 barrels a day from last week's all-time high. Four-week average production is just under 13.7 million barrels a day, up 100,000 daily barrels from the previous record set last week.
Inventories rose 6.4 million barrels to more than 427 million as of November 7th. EIA reports stockpiles remain 2.2 million barrels lower than a year ago, and are four percent below the five-year seasonal average. Crude imports are down more than ten percent from a week ago at 5.2 million barrels per day. Crude exports dropped by nearly half to 2.8 million.
The Supreme Court in New Mexico could soon determine if its residents have a constitutional right to pollution control. The high court will hear an appeal brought by environmental, youth and activist groups, who argue that oil and gas permitting, alongside a failure to enforce pollution laws, violates the so-called pollution control clause of the state constitution. That clause was added by voters as an amendment in 1971.
The previous government in Canada proposed a cap on greenhouse gas pollution in the oil and gas sector, hoping to drop emissions to 35% compared to 2019. The new government is now hinting it will scrap the cap, which opponents said would actually cap ALL oil and gas output. The Climate Competitiveness Strategy in the nation's new budget proposal would instead prioritize effective carbon markets, enhanced methane regulations, and new technology.
Governments across Europe and the Middle East are rushing to ensure the sprawling oil operations of Russian energy giant Lukoil can keep running when US sanctions kick in. The U.S. Treasury nixed a deal to acquire the company's worldwide assets by what the government calls the Kremlin's puppet.