BY JOHN P. TRETBAR
Gasoline prices across the U.S. are about 28 cents cheaper than they were a month ago. EIA says gasoline inventories remain about three percent above the five-year average for this time of year, and grew last week by 2.1 million barrels, which should put more downward pressure on pump prices. AAA says the national average price for a gallon of regular is two thirty-nine nine ($2.399). Across Kansas, we’re paying an average of $2.08 a gallon. Locally most retailers are asking $2.11 per gallon, but we spotted $2.02 at one outlet in Great Bend, and $2.06 was the cheapest we saw in Hays.
Drilling rig counts were down slightly over the last week. Independent Oil & Gas Service reported 13 active rigs in eastern Kansas, up one, and 30 active rigs west of Wichita, down three. They’re about to spud a new well on one lease in Russell County and drilling is underway at a well site in Stafford County. Baker Hughes reported 1,071 active rigs nationwide, down four oil rigs. Canada checked in with 174 active rigs, down 12 for the week.
Operators filed 42 permits for drilling at new locations last week, 28 in eastern Kansas and 14 west of Wichita. There are two new drilling permits in Barton County and one in Russell County.
Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 31 newly completed wells for the last week, bringing the total for the year up to 1,517 completions. There were 15 east of Wichita and 16 in western Kansas, including one each in Barton, Ellis and Stafford counties.
The government reported a decline in U.S. crude production and inventories. According to the Energy Information Administration, U.S. crude production dropped about 100-thousand barrels per day last week to just shy of 11.6 million barrels per day. EIA said crude oil inventories decreased by 1.2 million barrels to 442.0 million barrels. That’s about 7% above the five-year average for this time of year.
A separate government report says U.S. crude production increased in November to 11.5 million barrels per day. EIA expects that for the year, U.S. crude production will average 10.9 million barrels per day in 2018, an increase of 1.5 million barrels per day over last year. The report predicts domestic production will increase to an average 12.1 million barrels per day in 2019.
For one week in November, the U.S. became a net exporter of crude and petroleum products. The government reported that during the week ending November 30, we exported more than we imported for the first time in weekly data going back to 1991. EIA said that single-week estimate is part of a longer-term trend of declining imports of crude oil and increasing petroleum exports.
Wichita State University will award an honorary doctorate to the Wichita oilman who made the largest-ever cash donation to WSU in May. It is against state policy to award honorary degrees for “philanthropic activity,” but school officials insist Wayne Woolsey’s generosity is not a motivating factor in bestowing the honorary degree. President John Bardo’s nomination letter lauds Woolsey’s introduction of large-scale hydraulic fracturing techniques to Kansas.
A federal lease sale in Alaska went on as planned this week despite courtroom attempts to derail the auction. The lease of 174,000 acres generated 16 bids and about $1.5 million in revenue, about one million more than last year’s offering. Fossil fuel giants ConocoPhillips Emerald House and Nordaq Energy were the three companies to make bids on the 16 tracts. A federal judge in Alaska dismissed two lawsuits asserting there hasn’t been adequate environmental review or consideration of the impacts of climate change.
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to ease restrictions on oil and natural gas drilling, mining and other activities that were put in place to protect an imperiled bird species across millions of acres in the American West. Land management documents released by the U.S. Interior Department show the administration intends to open more public lands to leasing and allow waivers for drilling to encroach into the habitat of greater sage grouse.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed legislation establishing an oversight panel for a hotly disputed tunnel and oil pipeline project beneath the waterway linking Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The bill creates the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority to monitor construction and operation of the tunnel in bedrock beneath the waterway. The tunnel and new pipeline segment will replace twin pipelines now resting on the bottom of the straits. They are part of the Enbridge Line 5, which runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario.
Colorado regulators are considering expanding the buffer zones between new oil and gas wells and school property. Coming on the heels of the election defeat of much tougher setbacks, the proposal would include outdoor areas such as playgrounds within the current rules that require new wells to be at least 1,000 feet from buildings.
China’s crude imports set a new record in November, and are on track for a record year. Reuters cites customs data reporting the Chinese imported 10.43 million barrels per day last month, the first time they’ve imported more than 10 million.
