By JOHN P. TRETBAR
The total Kansas rig count is up 30% from last year at this time. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 14 active drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, down five, and 33 west of Wichita, which is up three for the week. Drilling is underway at two leases in Ellis County, and three in Russell County. Operators report drilling ahead at sites in Ellis and Stafford counties. They’re moving in completion tools at three wells in Barton County and six in Ellis County.
Last week’s national rig counts from Baker Hughes showed 1,048 active drilling rigs nationwide, down one gas rig but an increase of three rigs searching for oil. The count in Louisiana was down four and in Oklahoma the total dropped by one. Totals in New Mexico and Texas were each up one. Canada reports 223 active rigs, up 12.
Kansas operators filed 49 new drilling permits last week, 23 east of Wichita and 26 in western Kansas, including three new permits in Barton County, eight in Ellis County, and one in Stafford County. That’s 955 permits for drilling at new locations across the state so far this year, compared to 741 at this time last year.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 45 newly-completed wells for the week. That’s 898 so far this year, nearly 100 ahead of last year at this time. Operators completed 31 wells in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita, including one in Barton County.
The government’s weekly inventory reports have gone from the biggest draw-down in years to an unexpected increase to another big draw-down. The government reported inventories of 404.9 million barrels for the week ending July 20, which is down 6.1 million barrels for the week and about 3% below the five-year average. U.S. crude oil imports dropped by more than 16%. Gasoline inventories dropped 2.3 million barrels last week but remain about 4% above the five year average for this time of year
For the second week in a row, U.S. producers pumped record amounts of crude oil last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports 11 million barrels per day for the week ending July 20. (The totals are rounded to the nearest 100,000 barrels)
A jury verdict in a Texas court against an oilfield services company may have set the record for the largest civil penalty ever handed down in an accident involving a truck. The jury awarded a Texas man an eye-popping $101 million in damages from a 2013 DWI crash involving the illegal driver of a truck hauling fracking sand. The verdict against FTS international is believed to be the first-ever nine-figure, truck-related, personal injury award. Of the $101 million, about $75 million were punitive damages levied against FTS, which, according to the plaintiff, had plenty of chances to pull the driver off the road but never did.
The sale of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline will be finalized with the Canadian government as the new owner, after a deadline passed that would have allowed them to flip it prior to closing. Bloomberg reports Canada will seek a new buyer without Kinder Morgan’s help, amid fears of legal and political delays. The government’s $3.4 billion purchase gave it until Sunday to co-market the pipeline with an eye to selling it to a third party. About a dozen parties have signed on as potential buyers, and the project could wind up being bought by a Canadian-led consortium, as opposed to a single buyer. The pipeline would move oil from Alberta to Canada’s west coast, an effort by Canada to tap markets in east Asia.
There were no injuries or oil spills, but attacks on two tankers in a key shipping lane in the Red Sea prompted Saudi Arabia to temporarily halt oil shipments along the route. Two vessels belonging to the Saudi National Shipping Company were attacked by militias from Yemen.
The Wall Street Journal reports the five largest Western oil companies are set to generate about $90 billion a year in excess cash in 2018 and 2019, exceeding records set in 2008 when oil sold for nearly $150 a barrel. Exxon Mobil said second-quarter net income rose to $4 billion, up 18% compared to the same period a year ago. Profits at Chevron more than doubled to $3.4 billion and the company announced plans to begin buying back about $3 billion in shares of stock per year. French oil major Total said its net profit nearly doubled in the second quarter on higher prices and production to $3.72 billion, compared with $2.04 billion a year earlier. Royal Dutch Shell said its profits nearly tripled to $5.2 billion, and announced an anticipated $25 billion stock buyback. Norway’s Equinor, formerly known as Statoil, lagged behind expectations because of maintenance costs, but the company has already raised its dividend this year.