Crude oil production in seven major regions of U.S. is forecast to be up by 16,000 barrels per day in May to 9.863 million barrels per day, according to the latest drilling productivity report from U.S. Energy Information Administration.  EIA expects production in Permian Basin to increase by 12,000 barrels per day in May to 6.167 million b/d after 6.155 million b/d in April.  Production is also expected to grow in Eagle Ford in south Texas (by 5,000 b/d to 1.164 million b/d) and Bakken. EIA said the May forecast of 6.167 million b/d in Permian would be the third highest monthly outp ..read more

U.S., Texas and Permian Basin added drilling rigs in the past week, according to the latest weekly report from Baker Hughes.  As of April 19, there were 619 rigs in U.S. (up 2 in past week, down 134 in past year), 296 in Texas (up 2 in past week, down 81 in past year) and 318 in Permian Basin (up 2 in past week, down 40 in past year).  Also, there were 108 rigs in New Mexico (down 1 in past week, up 3 in past year).  The gain in drilling rigs by U.S. broke a streak of four consecutive weeks of declines. In the Permian Basin, Eddy County, N.M., leads with 56 rigs (down 3 in past ..read more

How much does Permian Basin oilfield activity affect Basin aviation activity? It’s pretty much a direct, non-stop connection. According to Justine Ruff, director of airports at the Midland International Air and Space Port, “enplanements” are up exponentially right now. NicholasAir owns and operates its own fleet, employs its own pilots, and maintains an average aircraft age of only 5 years. An enplanement, per the definition she gave, is “a passenger getting on an airplane and flying out.” So, given this exponential increase, it’s clear that “oilfield traffic here is having a positive effect ..read more

U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest short-term energy outlook that it expects average Brent crude oil spot price will increase to $89 per barrel for 2024 after $82 per barrel in 2023.  Forecast average for 2024Q2 is $90 per barrel.  EIA said, “This increase reflects our expectation of strong global oil inventory draws during this quarter and ongoing geopolitical risks.” Average retail price for gasoline, according to EIA, is expected to be $3.60 per gallon for each of 2024 and 2025 – up from the previous forecasts March 12 of $3.50 per gallon for 2024 and $3.40 ..read more

Several analysts told The Telegraph last week they expect the price of a barrel of crude oil could reach $100 by June as Saudi Arabia extends supply cuts and geopolitical tensions continue to rise.  Bjarne Schieldrop of SEB Bank said, “Towards the end of second quarter, I think it’s natural to assume that we’ll see the price move towards the $100 mark… It’s a totally artificial price controlled by OPEC.  The big question is what OPEC will do in third quarter.” Others who forecast $100 oil included Callum Macpherson of Investec and Daan Struyven of Goldman Sachs, who told The Telegrap ..read more

Bureau of Land Management in U.S. Department of Interior issued new rules last week that will result in producers paying more to develop and produce crude oil and natural gas on federal lands.  Oil & Gas Journal said the rules for fluid mineral leases and leasing process are BLM’s first comprehensive updates to the federal onshore oil and gas leasing regulations since 1988, first update to minimum bonding levels since 1960, and first increase in royalty rates in more than 100 years.  Debra Haaland, secretary of the Interior and former U.S. representative from New Mexico, said Apr ..read more

Dusty Roach Welcome again to this month’s safety edition. It is indeed nice to write for this publication, in the sense of being able to have literary freedom in terms of discussing safety. While the government continues in its overreach to control everything, safety included, we still fortunately have freedom of speech. Our freedom of speech can be seen as a parallel to the stop work authority given to us at work by the government. The employee has the right and responsibility to stop any work that they deem dangerous at any time. Yes, I am aware that a previous article I wrote was about st ..read more

Railroad Commission of Texas said last week production of both crude oil and natural gas in the state reached record numbers in 2023.  Oil production was about 1.92 million barrels, which was about 51 million barrels ahead of the previous record of about 1.86 million barrels in 2019.  Natural gas production was 12.01 trillion cubic feet of gas, which was 13 percent ahead of the previous record of 10.61 trillion cubic feet in 2021. Wei Wang, executive director, said April 9, “These production records are beyond impressive and reflect how Texas continues to provide reliable domestic pr ..read more

U.S. count of active drilling rigs fell for the fourth straight week, according to Baker Hughes in its weekly report of April 12.  The U.S. count declined by 3 in the past week to 617 (down 134 in the past year).  Baker Hughes also said as of April 12 there were 316 rigs in Permian Basin (down 1 in past week, down 37 in past year), 294 in Texas (down 3 in past week, down 83 in past year) and 109 in New Mexico (up 1 in past week, up 6 in past year).  It’s the first four-week decline in U.S. since August-September 2023. Oklahoma remains No. 3 among states with 44 rigs (unchanged i ..read more

Houston-based Moss Lake Partners recently filed a request to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to start the pre-filing review process for its proposed DeLa Express system that will transport 2 Bcfd of natural gas from Delaware Basin to Louisiana.  The request was filed April 2 for DeLa Express to transport liquids-rich natural gas from Red Bluff in Loving County to Moss Bluff in Calcasieu Parish, La., for markets on the Gulf Coast from Port Arthur to Cameron Parish. DeLa Express will consist of a 690-mile mainline with five lateral pipelines (60 miles total), eight new greenfi ..read more