The Weekly US Oil & Gas Update: 14 January 2014
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The Oil & Gas Weekly is compiled by Todd Erickson. Todd is a veteran executive manager in the North American E&P market.
He has management experience in high-growth oil & gas service organizations performing a leadership role in operations, strategy, and corporate development with a track record of identifying opportunities and best-practices, creating execution plans, then developing effective teams and leaders to execute them.
Learn more about Todd here
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Rig Counts - select states with key plays |
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Oil & Gas Prices - Bloomberg/EIA |
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General News |
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Oil prices hit lowest point in the past year The US Energy Department said that supplies of gasoline rose by 6.2 million barrels last week. This oversupply, along with increasing crude oil stocks, led to the lowest price for the US benchmark oil price in the past year, just under $92. US production of crude oil is at its highest level for the last 25 years, and supplies "are near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year," according to the Energy Department. Natural gas prices also fell as forecasts called for warm weather in the coming weeks. Article here
US Energy Information Administration expects rate of crude oil production growth to slow in 2015 The boom in production from US shale plays has consistently exceeded the EIA's forecasts the last couple of year, with growth of over 1 million bpd just last year. The EIA expects growth of another 1 million bpd in 2015, which will make US production its highest in 43 years, but the EIA expects production growth to slow to 750,000 bpd in 2015. This, along with increased OPEC production, means falling crude prices globally, at least according to the EIA's forecast, with Brent prices averaging $101.58 in 2015, down from $105.42 this year, despite rising global demand for oil. Article here
Another train carrying crude derails, catches fire This one was in rural New Brunswick, CA. On January 8th, 15 cars derailed, four carrying crude oil, and caught fire. As a result, 60 people were evacuated while the fire was being contained. This string of train accidents involving crude oil is bound to result in a significant impact on public perception around crude transportation--expect lots of noise from Washington, followed by increased scrutiny and possibly new regulations affecting crude transportation. Article here |
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Unconventional Oil & Gas News |
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Ohio releases Utica production numbers; looks like a gas play In the third quarter report from Ohio's Department of Natural Resources, 245 Utica wells produced on average 14,500 barrels of oil per day and 370 million cubic feet of gas per day, making gas the predominant hydrocarbon from the play. This is a tremendous increase from the Department's May 2012 report, that showed average daily output of oil at just 1,742 bpd and gas at 35 million cubic feet per day. The highest-producing wells, for both oil and gas, belong to Gulfport, who has made a substantial commitment to the Utica. Article here
Marcellus Shale facts The article on the link below reports ten facts about the Marcellus Shale gas play in the Northeast US that put the size of this fast-growing shale play into perspective, such as: -If the Marcellus Shale were a country, it would rank 8th worldwide in total production, ahead of Saudi Arabia -Production is up from 2 Bcf/d in 2010 to its current rate of 13 Bcf/d, making it the most prolific play in the US -Production increases continue to exceed forecasts, and analysts believe production could hit 10 Bcf/d by 2020 |
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Environment and Safety News |
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Environmental activists target science education program in effort to limit Ohio oil and gas development Recently, the environmental activist organization Climate Parents succeeded in killing a childrens science program in Ohio due to its content on pipelines, geology and energy use. The reportedly science-driven cirruculum was developed by science teachers across Ohio, but apparently the activist group found that providing children industry-specific knowledge threatening to the group's anti-industry message. This truly disturbing trend of hiding scientific knowledge in the interests of furthering political agendas represents a disappointing turn of events in the national oil & gas debate. Article here |
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Mergers and Acquisitions News |
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Emerald Oil acquires 19,500 net acres in the Bakken The acquisition brings the company's total o 85,000 net acres in the play, focused on Mckenzie County, North Dakota. Emerald paid $74.6 million for the assets. Article here |
