By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Communications
The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes broke its losing streak. The total count as of 9/8 was 632 active rigs, marking the first increase in total rigs, and the first increase in oil rigs, in more than two months. The count in Texas was up four. New Mexico and North Dakota were each down three.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil & Gas Service was down two rigs from last week in western Kansas. The tally east of Wichita is unchanged. The count is down 40% from last year at this time.
Drilling was underway Friday on a lease in Ellis County.
So far this year, 186 oil-and-gas operators have spudded 884 wells across the state of Kansas. They've completed 1,190 wells, up seven percent over last year. Independent Oil & Gas Service says spuds are down 23% from a year ago, and total footage drilled trails last year by 26%.
Operators completed 38 new wells across Kansas last week, 13 east of Wichita and 26 in western Kansas, including two in Barton County, one in Ellis County and one in Stafford County. Kansas regulators last week approved eight new drilling locations across the state, two in eastern Kansas and six west of Wichita. That's 842 new drilling permits so far this year compared to 1,130 a year ago.
The Kansas Corporation Commission reported 83 new intent-to-drill notices in August, including one in Barton County, three in Ellis County, one in Russell County and one in Stafford County. So far this year there are 901 new intents statewide, down 280 from the count at the end of August last year.
The government reported another near-record week for crude production, over 12.8 million barrels per day for the third week in a row. U.S. weekly output has exceeded 12.8 million barrels per day only 18 times in history including this latest report from the Energy Information Administration. The record weekly tally was 13,074,000 barrels per day set during the week through February 28, 2020.
The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude imports increased by 154,000 barrels per day to 6.8 million. The four-week average is nearly ten percent higher than a year ago.
Crude inventories dropped another 6.3 million barrels, to 416.6 million barrels. That's the lowest tally since June of 2022. The Energy Information Administration says stockpiles are four percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
At least one Russia sanction is not working as planned. The G7 and its allies have shelved regular reviews of the Russian oil price-cap scheme, even though most Russian crude is trading above the limit because of a rally in global crude prices. Reuters reports Russian producers have found ways to sell oil using fewer Western ships and insurance services, making it difficult for the West to enforce the existing price cap.
Viper Energy, a Midland, Texas operator, is expanding its reach, paying out a billion dollars in cash and stock for a huge acreage stake to add to its own in the Permian Basin and other oil and gas plays. Viper said the new fields will boost its Permian acreage to 32,000 acres with output jumping to 48,000 barrels per day.