By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
OPEC+ output increases got started early, as Iraq jumps the gun. Reuters cites Iraq's oil marketing company reporting its crude shipments increasing 20,000 to 25,000 barrels a day. The move follows the agreement last month by eight cartel members to collectively raise output by 137,000 barrels a day starting in October.
The European Union over the weekend bowed to pressure from President Trump and proposed sanctions for Chinese firms buying Russian oil. The measures also includes new banking sanctions, and if approved would blacklist additional companies aiding Russia’s military.
Selling high and buying low nets the government one and a quarter billion dollars. Add another half million barrels to the Strategic Petroleum Reserves. SPR refills in the last year total over 25 million barrels. Since refill operations resumed in April of last year the total is 41.8 million barrels, at markdowns of more than $30 a barrel.
Commercial stockpiles dropped more than two percent from a week ago and 0.5% from a year ago. The Energy Information Administration reports inventories of 415.4 million as of September 12. EIA says stockpiles are about five percent below the five year seasonal average.
US crude production for the week through September 12 averaged 13,482,000 barrels per day, down 13-thousand barrels per day from the week before. The four-week and year-to-date averages remain about two percent higher than a year ago.
After dropping by one third the week before, crude-oil exports nearly doubled last week, and almost surpassed imports. The Energy Information Administration reports average exports topped five million barrels a day for only the second time this year at 5.2 million. That's the highest report since December of 2023.
US refiners imported 5.7 million barrels of crude per day last week, down by more than half a million from a week ago. The four-week average is own 2.4% year over year.
Thus, the US is a net crude importer, but only by 415,000 barrels a day, the smallest such comparison since EIA began tracking weekly net imports.
Out of 17 completed wells reported in Kansas this week, seven are dry holes and five are service wells. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports seven well-completions in eastern Kansas and ten West of Wichita. That's 841 wells so far this year compared to 992 a year ago at this time. Total activity statewide is down by a third from last year, with 25 percent fewer wildcat wells, and total footage down by 40 percent.
Kansas regulators okayed 11 new drilling locations this week, 510 so far this year, compared to over 750 a year ago. There are four new permits east of Wichita and seven in Western Kansas, including one in Ellis County.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service is up one at six rigs in eastern Kansas and unchanged at ten rigs west of Wichita. The total is down 20 percent from a month ago and 27 percent from a year ago.
The US Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes rises by two oil rigs to a total of 542 active rigs. The gas tally is unchanged. Wyoming and Colorado each rose by two rigs. Texas and Louisiana were each down one rig.
A newly formed company is about to spud new ground in Greenland, the first US public company to do so. The move could reshape the industry and marketplace across the Arctic and around the globe. The Greenland Energy Company has already gained the needed government approvals and is now building the first service roads into the Jameson Land Basin in East Greenland. Seismic research suggests there are more than 50 potential oil and gas drilling targets involving recoverable resources in the multi-billion-barrel range.