By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
NYMEX crude futures prices dropped more than a dollar Monday, with the April contract for light sweet crude ending the day at sixty-eight thirty-seven ($68.37) per barrel, the lowest settlement price since early December. Prices were another dollar lower in morning trading Tuesday. WTI was trading below $67 a barrel while London Brent hovered a few cents over $70.
Crude production in the United States returned to the top ten last week. The Energy Information Administration reports output of 13,502,000 barrels per day, the best weekly report since early January and the ninth-highest tally ever.
The Energy Information Administration reports commercial crude inventories are down more than two million barrels to just over 430 million as of February 21. That's the first weekly decline in stockpiles in a month. Inventories are down about four percent from a year ago and about four percent below the five-year seasonal average.
The Kansas Corporation Commission reports 54 new intent-to-drill notices across Kansas in February, or 119 so far this year, compared to 144 through February last year. Regulators report four new intents in Stafford County, which makes six so far this year. Finney County adds three intents, or 12 so far this year.
Kansas regulators approved eight new drilling permits last week, all in western Kansas, including three in Stafford County and two in Finney County. Kansas operators completed 19 wells last week, with nine in eastern Kansas, and ten west of Wichita, including two in Barton County and one in Ellis County.
Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 15 active drilling rigs in Kansas, with four in the eastern half of the state, which is up one from a week ago, and eleven in western Kansas, a weekly increase of two rigs. That's a 25% increase for the week, but it's down nearly 12% from last month and more than 21% lower than a year ago.
Drilling was underway on a lease in Barton County, and four new wells in Finney County.
The government reports crude oil imports of 5.9 million barrels a day last week, up 98,000 barrels a day from the week before. Crude imports are down about 3,000 barrels a day from the four-week average. Crude exports averaged nearly 4.2 million barrels a day last week, down more than a thousand barrels from the four week average.
The U.S. is a net petroleum exporter thanks to product exports of more than five million barrels a day.
Two energy providers in Oklahoma set the stage for a massive civil lawsuit over Winter Storm Uri.
Two firms accused in Oklahoma of fraud and price fixing during the storm three years ago are denying the allegations. The filings set the stage for a massive discovery process and civil trial. Last month, an Osage County judge denied a motion to dismiss or move the case. Symmetry Energy and a group referred to as Enable Entities have now filed court documents denying wrongdoing.
The Oklahoma Attorney General's lawsuit accuses the companies of manipulating natural gas supplies before and during the storm. They're accused of denying access in Oklahoma to natural gas supplies and instead selling those supplies for a huge markup on the spot market.
ConocoPhillips will sell its interests in the Gulf of Mexico Ursa and Europa fields to Shell for $735 million, both companies confirmed today. Analysts say ConocoPhillips continues to divest non-core assets, while Shell hopes to strengthen its deep-water portfolio.