By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
Feb. 17, 2025
U.S. crude production last week reached the top ten.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported average output of 13,494,000 barrels per day, an increase of 16,000 daily barrels from a week earlier. That's the biggest weekly tally since December, and the ninth biggest ever. Four-week average output and cumulative annual production both top 13.4 million barrels a day. Each is up about three percent from a year ago.
EIA reported commercial crude stockpiles rose 4.1 million barrels from a week ago and are four percent below the five-year seasonal average at just under 428 million barrels.
Crude prices are hovering in a tight trading range, with the benchmarks dropping a few cents on Friday heading toward a weekly loss of a few pennies a barrel. New York crude offers dipped below $71 per barrel. Brent crude dropped under $75 in London.
The government continues to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, and continues to amass huge savings for the U.S. Treasury. The Energy Department took delivery of 200,000 barrels last week at prices $15 cheaper than what we sold it for two years ago. That's a three million dollar profit this week and $468 million since refill operations resumed last April.
Weekly exploration data in Kansas points to another down year on the production side. Independent Oil and Gas Service notes 25 new well-completion reports last week, with 15 in western Kansas including one in Barton County, two in Ellis County and two in Russell County. That's 168 new well-completions so far this year, compared to 250 at this time last year.
Overall, drilling activity in Kansas is down about 32% from same period last year. Kansas regulators okayed 15 new drilling permits, with five in western Kansas. That's 81 new permits so far this year, which is less than half the tally a year ago.
The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service shows a total of 15 active drilling rigs in Kansas. There are eight in the western half of the state, which is up one from a week ago, and seven in eastern Kansas, which is down one. Operators were moving in rotary tools to spud a new well in Barton County.
The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes is up one oil rig and one gas rig for a total of 588 active rigs. The count in Texas is up two rigs. Utah is up one. The tallies in North Dakota and Louisiana are each down one rig.
The number-three crude oil producing state in the country reports some mixed results. North Dakota's crude output increased slightly in December, on the heels of a spike of 11% the month before. The Department of Mineral Resources reported a daily average just under 1.2 million barrels a day, which is down slightly from the shorter month in November.
Natural gas production was down nearly three percent, and the state's closely watched gas-capture rate dropped to 94%. Rig counts dropped four rigs in the last three months to 33 active rigs by February 13. DMR reports on ongoing decline in well-completions, but drilling permits are up in January.
The U.S. imports more crude oil that we export by more than 2.5 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Information Administration. Petroleum product imports trail exports by nearly five million.
EIA said U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.3 million barrels per day last week, down 606,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude imports averaged about 6.6 million barrels per day, 7.6% more than the same four-week period last year.
Crude exports averaged 3.9 million barrels a day, down nearly half a million from a week earlier, according to the government. Exports over the last four weeks are up 100,000 daily barrels compared to the same period last year.
An oil tanker carrying crude from a sanctioned Russian producer has been floating off the coast of India for nearly a week, and it's not clear if authorities will allow the vessel to deliver its cargo. Bloomberg reports the Cordelia Moon was headed to western India with about a million barrels of Russian crude. The owner of the cargo was one of the two Russian producers sanctioned by the U.S. last month. This is the same Russian "shadow tanker" that made headlines in October when it came under fire near the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade.
Another 6.3 million barrels of Russian deliveries are being held on sanctioned vessels along Russia's Pacific coast. Those ships have been stationary for about a week near Russia's Sakhalin Island facility.