By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Rig counts were up in Kansas but down nationwide last week. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 15 active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, up one, and 27 west of Wichita, up three. They’re drilling on two leases in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reported a drop of seven oil rigs and a drop of eight gas rigs for a total of 913 nationwide. Canada reports 202 active rigs, down ten for the week.
For the first time in nearly a year and a half, Baker Hughes lists an active rig in Kansas on its weekly rig count summary. The oilfield service firm has not even included Kansas in its “Major State Variances”since July, after listing zero active rigs across the state for about a year prior to that. By comparison, the Independent Oil & Gas Service reports during that same period have shown between two and three dozen active rigs in the Sunflower State. The latest Baker Hughes reports show one active rig in Kansas. Independent lists 42.
Kansas operators filed 28 permits to drill at new locations last week, nine in the eastern half of the state and 19 in western Kansas. That includes one new permit in Stafford County. So far this year, we’ve seen 1,140 new permits filed in Kansas.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 34 new well completions across the state over the last week, 1,040 so far this year. There were 15 in eastern Kansas and 19 west of Wichita, out of which nearly half were dry holes. Two completions were reported in Barton County last week.
A lawyer confirms settlements in lawsuits filed against two oil companies by a Prague, Oklahoma resident injured in an earthquake nearly six years ago that her lawyer says was caused by saltwater disposal wells. KFOR-TV reports Sandra Ladra reached a confidential settlement with New Dominion earlier this month and with Spess Oil Company in July. Details were not released.
U.S. refineries from Ohio to Minnesota are capitalizing on access to cheap crude from Western Canada and North Dakota oilfields. Reuters reports that’s helping the region break a historic dependence on fuel from the Gulf Coast while redrawing oil trade maps.
Continental Resources said Tuesday it has agreed to sell more than 1 million barrels of oil to China in its first oil export contract. Oklahoma City-based Continental will sell 33,500 barrels of oil per day in November to Atlantic Trading and Marketing, which will ship the oil overseas.
A pair of GOP senators the push for more petroleum exports. Sens. Bill Cassidy and Marco Rubio are proposing fast-track approval for relatively small-scale volumes of liquefied natural gas. The Hill reports their bill would allow government approval, “without modification or delay,” for exports of up to 51.1 billion cubic feet per day of LNG to nearly any country. Currently, all natural gas exports from the contiguous United States must be extensively reviewed and certified by the Energy Department as being in the “public interest” before they can proceed.
A group at MIT has found a way to use electricity to convert methane into derivatives of methanol, a liquid that can be made into automotive fuel or used as a precursor to a variety of chemical products. This new method may allow for lower-cost methane conversion at remote sites, and could slow down the huge amounts of the gas flared at oil wells. The findings were described in the journal ACS Central Science, and could pave the way to making use of a significant methane supply. Current estimates show that 150 billion cubic meters of the gas are wasted each year.
A group of “zombies” were stopped outside the entrance to the Oklahoma State Capitol on Saturday in a staged event by groups supporting oil production tax increases to prevent cuts to health, education and other services. The event was filmed for online sharing and comes as state lawmakers are in special session to address a $215 million budget hole.