By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
Near-month, light sweet NYMEX crude dropped 21 cents on Friday to close the day at $65.21 per barrel, a weekly gain of more than four dollars and only the second daily settlement over $65 since October. Prices on Monday were four percent lower in New York and London. NYMEX crude was trading a few cents over $62 a barrel. Brent crude in London was just over $66.
Kansas Common crude starts the week and the month of February at $55.50 per barrel after dropping a quarter per barrel Friday. The monthly average price at CHS in McPherson rises above $50 for only the second time since October, at $50.28 per barrel for the month of January.
Kansas regulators report 42 new intent-to-drill notices in January, compared to 65 in January of last year, and 74 in January of the year before that. The Kansas Corporation Commission Web site lists one new intent-to-drill notice in Rooks County, one in Finney County and one in Gove County.
Kansas regulators approved just one permit in Western Kansas this week, in Lane County. There are 21 new drilling permits in eastern Kansas, including eighteen from the same producer and contractor in Bourbon County. That's 40 permits statewide so far this year.
Operators completed nine wells across the state this week, with four in Western Kansas, including one in Rooks County and one in Gove County.
Independent Oil and Gas Service notes 65 new completion reports statewide year-to-date. Just 31 wells have been drilled from spud to full depth so far this year, down from 71 a year ago.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is down one in eastern Kansas at seven rigs, and unchanged west of Wichita at six. The total is down 13 percent from a month ago, and down 17 percent from a year ago. On Friday drilling was underway on one lease in Gove County, and one in Rooks County, and about to begin on a second lease in Rooks County.
The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes is 546 drilling rigs, unchanged at 411 oil rigs, but up three gas rigs for the week. The total is down 36 rigs from the report at the end of January last year. The rig count in Texas drops to 220 rigs, down three from last week and down 51 rigs from a year ago. Baker Hughes reports Oklahoma was up three rigs.
The US has now raised $1.3 BILLION dollars buying and selling strategic crude-oil stockpiles. Inventories, and profits, rise at the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Louisiana, up half a million barrels to 415 million this week. That's nearly 50 Million refill barrels, sold for $95 per barrel, and then refilled for about $68. By selling high and buying low, the US Treasury has saved $1.3 BILLION at the SPR since April of 2024.
Commercial crude oil stockpiles dropped by more than two million barrels to just under 424 Million as of January 23rd. The Energy Information Administration says stockpiles are about three percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
The government reports domestics crude production is down 36,000 barrels a day from a week ago to just under 13.7 million barrels a day. That's the lowest weekly average since last November. The Energy Information Administration says the four-week average drops below 13.8 million barrels per day.
EIA reported increasing stockpiles of both regular gasoline and diesel, and demand for each lagging behind last year at this time. Fuel stockpiles are five percent above the five-year average for this time of year.
US crude-oil imports dropped more than 800-thousand barrels a day to 5.6 million. The four week average is just under 6.4 million barrels a day That's down 57-thousand daily barrels, or about one percent from a year ago.
Crude oil exports jumped more than 24 percent, leaping 900-thousand barrels a day to nearly 4.6 million. The four-week average is up nearly half a million to just over 4.2 million barrels a day. Exports reached a four-month high, topping 4.5 million barrels a day for only the fourth time in the last year.
The amount of sanctioned crude oil believed to be at sea, and in fact adrift, is now well over one BILLION barrels. Now that India is stepping back from Russian crude-oil deliveries, an increasing amount Russian crude oil remains adrift, adding to a growing global problem stemming from sanctions against several countries. According to Bloomberg, Russia shipped more than three million barrels a day in the last four weeks, but India is now refusing delivery. That's adding to the more than one billion barrels of sanctioned crude oil already at sea without destination.
Speaking of at-sea-without-destination, two shadow-fleet tankers were literally adrift following similar mechanical breakdowns in the Mediterranean Sea. Media in Europe report two fully-laden crude tankers appear to be floating at very slow speeds without clear guidance or destination. One of them is located north of Algeria and the other near Gibraltar.
The oil majors operating a huge oil field in Kazakhstan lost an international arbitration case, leaving them liable for billions in compensation to that country’s government. Bloomberg reports a preliminary judgment of four billion dollars, calling it a partial victory for Kazakhstan, which was claiming more than $6 billion. The government said, and the tribunal agreed, that the firms collected for unapproved or unrecoverable cost overruns.