By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Crude-oil prices rose two dollars on Friday, and dropped about two dollars Monday. In midday trading, the benchmark Nymex crude contract was hovering near $103 per barrel after dropping below $100 last week. London Brent was also lower Monday, trading under $106 by lunchtime.
Prices in McPherson for Kansas Common crude averaged over $104 per barrel in June, the best monthly average since August of 2008. Kansas prices last week dipped into the upper 80s, but then regained some lost ground. As of Friday, the posted price for Kansas Common crude at CHS in McPherson was $95 a barrel.
Gasoline prices continue to drop. The auto club Triple-A says the national average pump price for regular gasoline on Monday was four sixty-seven per gallon, down 13 cents from last week, and 23 cents lower than a month ago. Kansas prices average four forty-six per gallon, down nearly twenty cents from last month.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration says it has fixed most the systems issues that delayed data publications for several weeks. But the agency announces the hardware failure that sparked the problems in late June continues to cause problems with data on diesel fuel prices, delaying weekly publications on that subject since June 13th. The agency last week came through with several publications, including its monthly petroleum supply report for April. Crude output in the US and in Kansas declined slightly. US operators pumped nearly 349 million barrels, or 11.62 million barrels per day, down about 60,000 barrels per day from the month before. Kansas output was also down slightly, to about 76,000 barrels per day in April.
EIA reports domestic crude inventories increased by 8.2 million barrels last week. At 423.8 million barrels, stockpiles on July 1 were about ten percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Gasoline stockpiles dropped by 2.5 million barrels and are about eight percent below the five-year seasonal average. US crude-oil imports rose 800,000 barrels per day last week to 6.8 million barrels per day. The four-week rolling average is less than one percent ahead of last year at this time. US crude production dipped slightly, with average daily output down 23,000 barrels per day to just over 12.1 million.
US Oil-by-rail tallies for the week through July 2nd were up 222 carloads over the week before. The Association of American Railroads says that's about one percent higher than a year earlier. Canadian traffic is up 13% over last year.
The Rotary Rig Count from Baker Hughes noted 752 active drilling rigs across the US, an increase of two oil rigs. The counts in Texas and Louisiana were each up one from a week ago.
The Rig Count in Kansas was down slightly, with 23 active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, down one, and 30 west of Wichita, which is down two. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 38 completed wells across the state in the week through July 7th. There were 18 in Western Kansas, including three in Barton County, and one each in Ellis, Russell and Stafford counties. New drilling permits were okayed in Barton, Russell and Stafford counties last week. Kansas regulators okayed 46 new drilling locations statewide. That's 847 so far this year, compared to 515 through the first week in July last year.
The oil patch in Texas continues to set tax-revenue records. Oil production taxes in June, a whopping $679 million, increased more than $84 million from the month before, the previous record, and nearly doubled the collections from June 2021. The State Comptroller says natural gas producers also paid record production taxes in June, a total of $439 million. The Midland Reporter-Telegram newspaper reports the nearly $1.12 BILLION paid in just one month tops some annual collections from a few years ago.