By JOHN P. TRETBAR

The weekly U.S. rotary rig count from Baker Hughes was unchanged Friday at 1,057 active rigs. Texas added three rigs while three fell off the list in New Mexico. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 14 active oil and gas drilling rigs in eastern Kansas, an increase of two rigs. The count west of Wichita was unchanged at 30. Drilling is underway at two leases in Barton County and one in Stafford County. Operators are about to spud one well in Barton County and one in Stafford County. They’re moving in completion tools to two wells in Barton County, six in Ellis County and one in Stafford County.

Kansas operators filed 60 permits for drilling at new locations last week, 41 in eastern Kansas, 19 west of Wichita including one new drilling permit in Ellis County and one in Stafford County. The total so far this year is 1,103 new drilling permits across the state.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reported just eight well completions for the week, all of them west of Wichita, six of them dry holes, including one dry hole completed in Russell County. Operators have completed 950 wells so far this year. Of the 518 completions west of Wichita so far this year, 159, more than 30%, were dry holes.

TransCanada still has work to do before it can break ground on the embattled final leg of the Keystone oil pipeline system. The Rapid City Journal reports the company filed petitions last month for eminent domain property rights in South Dakota. Petitions for condemnation were filed against separate parcels of land owned by two families, at least one of which promises a court fight. The company says it has not yet secured easements on state land in South Dakota, but has 94% ownership of the easements on private property.

Dwindling pipeline take-away capacity is bolstering oil-by-rail traffic (OBR) in the U.S. and Canada. According to the Association of American Railroads, OBR traffic was up more than 15% over the same week a year earlier. The cumulative total is up 10% year-on-year, to an average 10,532 car loads per week. Canada’s total oil-by-rail traffic has jumped nearly 15% compared to a year earlier.

This week’s auction of US Gulf Coast energy leases generated $178 million in winning bids, with Exxon Mobil, BP, Hess Corp and four others bidding on 144 parcels. That’s about one percent of the more than 14,000 parcels offered up for bid.

Voters in Oklahoma will decide is the state should set aside five percent of its oil and gas tax revenue for tough times. State Question 800 would create the “Oklahoma Vision Fund,” a trust fund designed to provide long-term stability in a state where spending has been anything but stable. It’s supporters say it’s also designed to keep future lawmakers from using it for special projects. The Governor issued a proclamation last week placing the matter on the ballot November 6.

For the third consecutive Wednesday, announcements from the government sent prices tumbling last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 6.8 million barrel increase in domestic crude oil inventories over the previous week. EIA said domestic production gained 100-thousand barrels to a rounded figure of 10.9 million barrels per day. Crude oil imports increased another million barrels per day last week. We’re importing about one percent above the average from last year at this time.

North Dakota has a record number of oil wells in production, but actual production has dipped slightly from the state’s record-high May totals. Preliminary numbers from the Department of Mineral Resources show the state pumped nearly 1.25 million barrels per day in June from 14,778 wells. Regulators say the state’s operators are still burning off 17% of the natural gas produced at oil wells. That again falls short of the statewide goal of 88% capture starting in November.

A new report from the research firm DrillingInfo shows oil producers in the state of Texas are burning off record amounts of natural gas at the well head. The report suggests drillers don’t have adequate pipeline capacity to move the associated gas to market, a problem which could slow down the state’s all-time-high oil production.

A report in the Texas Tribune asserts that energy regulators, industry groups and other experts are playing down the potential impact if Mexico follows through on the new president’s promise to end fuel imports. That would be a big hit to the Texas economy, but the report suggests Mexico “…has a long way to go to wean itself off fuel imports.” Sources also said they don’t see Mexico severing ties with a top trading partner.

Iran’s state-run oil company reduced official prices for September sales to Asia across all grades. Bloomberg reports the light crude pumped by OPEC’s third-largest producer will be sold at its steepest discount to rival Saudi Arabia in 14 years. The Saudis are also cutting their prices to the prized Asian market to lure more customers as they increase supply.