By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Eagle Media
Kansas crude prices are up a dollar from last week, but down $1.25 from the first of the month, and nine dollars lower than at the first of the year. Kansas Common crude starts the week at $53.00 a barrel at CHS in McPherson.
Employment in the oil patch is dropping, according to an online report citing government data. The publication Rig Zone cites data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showing total employment in oil and gas extraction has dropped by 4,000 jobs from January to August. Figures show a month on month drop on four occasions so far this year. Total employment as of August reached 119-thousand workers.
Baker Hughes reports 539 active drilling rigs nationwide, up two oil rigs from last week. The tallies in Texas and New Mexico are each up one, while Oklahoma is down one for the week. US totals are down 51 rigs from the same week a year ago.
The weekly Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil and Gas Service dropped nearly 17% from last week, 25% from last month, and 37% from last year. There are five active rigs in eastern Kansas, down three from a week ago. The total west of Wichita is unchanged at ten rigs.
The Kansas Geological Society recognized and named two brand-new oil fields. They're located in Logan and Ness counties. That's 16 new oil and gas fields so far this year.
Kansas regulators okayed 12 new drilling permits this week, with six in Western Kansas and six east of Wichita. That's 499 so far this year, compared to 733 new drilling locations by this time last year. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports eleven new well-completions, 824 so far this year. Three of those are in Western Kansas, including one in Ellis County.
Kansas crude oil production in May increased slightly from April, but the daily average drops under 71-thousand barrels. Cumulative output through May reached 10.5 million barrels, dropping the cumulative daily average to 69.64 barrels per day. That's down nearly 3,000 barrels a day from a year ago. Output in Ellis County through May averaged 5,386 barrels a day, down 309 barrels from a year ago. Barton County produced 3,754 barrels a day, down slightly from last year. Russell County is up slightly from a year earlier, at 3,312 barrels a day. Output in Stafford County is also slightly higher, at 2,423 barrels a day.
US crude production topped 13.4 million barrels a day for a third week in a row, and nearly topped 13.5 million for the first time in nearly six months. The Energy Information Administration reports average output of 13,495,000 barrels per day, the highest weekly average since March 28. The four-week average, and cumulative production so far this year, are each below 13.5 million barrels a day; each remains nearly two percent higher than a year ago.
The government added another half million barrels to the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, which now total more than 405 million barrels. SPR refilled more than 25 million barrels in the last year, at $30-$35 per barrel less than what we sold it for three years ago.
Commercial crude inventories rose nearly four million barrels, topping off at 424.6 million barrels as of September 5. EIA says stockpiles are down about three percent from the five-year average for this time of year.
Crude oil imports are down nearly seven percent from a week ago. They're down nearly nine percent from a year ago, and more than 17 percent from two years ago. The Energy Information Administration reports current average imports of 6.3 million barrels a day. The four-week average is down about half a percentage point from the same four weeks last year.
Crude exports dropped by more than a million daily barrels to 2.7 million barrels per day. Refined product exports jumped about half a million barrels a day to 7.2 million.