By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Baker Hughes reported 952 active drilling rigs across the country Friday, up 12. There are 763 total rigs drilling for oil in the US, which is up seven and more than double the number from last year at this time. There are 189 rigs actively targeting natural gas. In Canada 14 rigs fell off the active list, down to 175 total. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 13 active rigs in eastern Kansas, down one, and 20 west of Wichita, down two. In Ellis County, they’re moving in completion tools at one lease. Drilling is underway at one lease in Barton County, where they’re moving in rotary tools at one site, and moving in completion tools at two more.
There were just 14 permits filed last week for drilling at new locations across Kansas, 724 so far this year. There were three east of Wichita and 11 in Western Kansas, including one in Barton County.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 31 new well completions last week across the state, 21 in eastern Kansas and 10 west of Wichita. There was one new completion in Russell County and one in Stafford County.
Operators across Kansas filed just 141 intent-to-drill notices last month, for a mid-year total of 781. That’s more than last year’s 448, but well below the 1,285 filed through the second quarter of 2015, and the 3,831 intents filed in 2014. There were six intents filed with the KCC in June in Barton County, three in Ellis County, one in Russell County and one in Stafford County.
In a first-of-its-kind settlement, an Oklahoma oil company has come to terms with a woman who sued them for injuries suffered in a 2011 earthquake she said was caused oilfield saltwater disposal. The Stillwater News-Press reports Spress Oil settled with Sandra and Gary Ladra for an undisclosed amount. The 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Central Oklahoma was the state’s largest ever. Sandra Ladra was injured when rocks and bricks from her chimney fell on her legs. The initial lawsuit claimed damages totaling more than $75,000. The Oklahoma Supreme Court had to determine whether the courts or the Oklahoma Corporation Commission had jurisdiction over the matter before it could be heard. This means future cases will be heard by the courts and not state regulators. The Ladras’ lawsuit continues against another oil company, with a hearing scheduled July 12.
Halliburton has hired about 100 new oilfield workers each month this year to keep up with surging demand in West Texas, a sharp turnaround after the job-killing oil bust. The Houston Chronicle reports the oil field service company has expanded its active fleet of fracking trucks and pumps by 30 percent in recent months. Its workforce in the region has grown by more than a third to 2,700 employees. Many of those were recruited outside of West Texas. The company held job fairs in places like Alabama, Mississippi and Nevada.
China has ramped up purchases of U.S.crude, as the glut makes our product cheaper than its Mideast rivals. The Wall Street Journal says China now buys 100,000 barrels a day from the U.S., 10 times the average of a year earlier, shortly after Congress lifted the US export ban. Imports in April and May jumped to more than 180,000 barrels a day on average. U.S. oil sales to China may reach more than $1 billion this year, up from $150 million last year. Russia, Saudi Arabia and Angola are still the top suppliers to China.
We told you about the first supertanker to ever navigate the channel at Corpus Christi last month. The New York Times says the successful docking of the French-flagged supertanker Anne at Occidental is seen as the herald of an export boom. There’s already ample evidence: oil exports grew slowly through most of 2016, but this year there has been a surge reaching 1.3 million barrels a day — roughly 15 percent of domestic production — which even at today’s depressed prices is worth more than $1.5 billion a month.
Mexico’s state oil firm Pemex lost $3.2 million per day from fuel theft last year. That’s the equivalent of two percent of total sales. According to a government report cited by BN Americas, Pemex reported a total of 6,537 illegal taps on pipelines last year, larger than earlier reports and the highest annual number so far. The number in 2009 was 310. Media reports in Mexico say the big players now are the criminal drug gangs acting in concert with corrupt oil company officials.