By JOHN P. TRETBAR
Oklahoma lawmakers approved that state’s first tax increase in nearly three decades, but the state’s teachers say it’s not enough. The first tax increase in 28 years raises the gross production tax on oil and gas to five percent, adds a $1.00 tax on cigarettes, six cents a gallon on diesel fuel and three cents on gasoline. Teacher pay raises within the legislation are expected to average about $6,000 per year, but the Oklahoma Education Association and the Oklahoma Public Employees Association said it’s not enough. A large group of teachers and supporters walked off the job Monday and Tuesday for rallies at the State Capitol.
Former ConocoPhillips executive James Gallogly is the new president of the University of Oklahoma, after a vote Monday by the board of regents. Gallogly officially succeeds David Boren July 1.
Baker Hughes reported a drop of seven oil rigs in its weekly drilling rig count Friday, and an increase of four rigs exploring for natural gas, for a total of 993, The count in Canada was down 27 to 134 active rigs. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported nine rigs actively drilling in eastern Kansas, down four, and 30 west of Wichita, which was up two. Drilling is underway at sites in Barton, Ellis and Stafford counties. Operators are moving in completion tools at one site in Barton County, six leases in Ellis County, one in Russell County and three in Stafford County.
Operators last week filed 18 permits for drilling at new locations across Kansas, eight east of Wichita and ten in western Kansas, including one each in Barton, Ellis and Stafford counties. So far this year, we’ve seen 381 new drilling permits statewide.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 37 new well-completions across Kansas for the week, 402 so far this year. Operators completed 21 wells in the eastern Kansas and 16 west of Wichita. That includes one completion in Russell County and one in Stafford County.
Utah officials are going after a pair of Colorado-based oil and gas companies after regulators said the firms failed to report production figures from leases on state lands. The Salt Lake Tribune reports regulators are considering shutting down 52 wells in an effort to collect an estimated $330,000 in delinquent royalties for the state’s education trust fund.
Negotiators could not agree on a plan for spending Mississippi’s share of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill damages in time to meet the deadline Monday night. The failure likely means at least part of the $750 million will remain in the bank another year. Lawmakers agreed to establish a special fund, but could not agree on whether legislators or appointed trustees should control the account.
After spending hundreds of millions of dollars building rail terminals able to handle more than a million barrels a day of oil, Canadian producers are discovering that all the loading capacity in the world isn’t sufficient if there aren’t enough locomotives, conductors and track space to transport the oil. Production in western Canada will exceed pipeline capacity by 338,000 barrels by the end of the year, according to analysis in the Vancouver Sun. The country’s railroads have been slow to respond without long-term commitments, as they struggle with a harsh winter and large numbers of grain shipments. The area’s benchmark crude has traded more than $20 a barrel below WTI since December.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia tells Reuters that they’re considering a 10-to-20 year agreement with Moscow to extend their short term oil production curbs, adding they have agreement on the big picture but not yet on the detail.”
China is taking its first steps towards paying for imported crude oil in yuan instead of the U.S. dollar, a key development in Beijing’s efforts to establish its currency internationally. The news comes about a week after the opening of crude futures trading in Shanghai. Sources told Reuters a pilot program for yuan payment could be launched as early as the second half of this year. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer and in 2017 overtook the United States as the biggest importer of crude oil. Its demand is a key determinant of global oil prices.
Saudi Aramco and MIT announced a new five-year, $25 million collaboration for new research and development. In a news release Tuesday the oil company said it would focus on everything from carbon capture and renewable energy to robotics and nanotechnology.
According to Arab news reports, Aramco also participated in a forum of chief executives in New York, joining 200 executives and government officials to promote trade. Aramco reportedly joined agreements valued at more than $10 billion with 14 U.S. companies.
Russia’s oil output edged up in March to an 11-month high of 10.97 million barrels per day, slightly above a limit agreed under a global supply pact. Reuters reported it’s the first increase in Russian output since December and the country’s highest level in a year.
Bahrain, the smallest energy producer in the Persian Gulf, discovered its biggest oil field since it started producing crude in 1932. The country’s official news agency did not offer specifics, but said the deposit off the island state’s west coast “is understood to dwarf Bahrain’s current reserves,” estimated at nearly 125 million barrels.