Wednesday, April 20, 2016; Gasoline Demand Remains On Glide Path To New All-Time Record

Tweeting now, John Kemp: US implied gasoline consumption averaged 9.4 million b/d over last 4 weeks and still running at seasonal record.

Recession: CNBC is reporting --

Of the major energy producers, Alaska, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming have slipped into recession, according to Moody's. (West Virginia and Wyoming — both top coal producers — have also been hurt by a drop in coal production and prices.) The economies of Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico have stalled — but not yet headed in reverse. Only Texas has continued to see its economy expand in all but a few energy-dependent metro areas, according to Moody's.

Most of the article focuses on Alaska, then on Wyoming. With regard to North Dakota:

North Dakota, by comparison, is feeling less pain from the loss of oil taxes.

As home to the Bakken oil field and one of the biggest beneficiaries of the modern U.S. oil and gas boom, North Dakota has also enjoyed a tax windfall from a surge in energy production taxes. As of last year, these so-called severance taxes made up more than half of the state's revenue.

But North Dakota has insulated itself somewhat from the crash in oil prices, largely because its windfall came relatively recently. That meant it's had less time to find ways to spend those oil and gas riches. The state has also reduced its reliance on energy revenues with a cap on oil revenues of $300 million every two years.

"(North Dakota) hasn't overspent," said Moody's Cochrane. "They've been very, very cautious and conservative in their in budget projection and their projection for what they energy revenue might be." 

And the article ends with Texas, pretty much unscathed.

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Active rigs:

	4/20/2016	04/20/2015	04/20/2014	04/20/2013	04/20/2012
Active Rigs	28	92	188	185	210

RBN Energy: evolving Gulf Coast pricing and new pipelines to St James.

A year ago (April 2015) the price spread between Light Louisiana Sweet (LLS) the St. James, LA benchmark light crude and Permian West Texas Intermediate (WTI) delivered to Houston was roughly $2.50/Bbl. In the first quarter of 2016 – following the end of the crude export ban and the crash of crude prices below $40.bbl – that spread narrowed to 30 cents/Bbl. This price differential change has thrown a wrench into traditional Gulf Coast price relationships that encouraged the flow of crude east from Houston to Louisiana. Further changes are expected as pipeline projects due to be completed in the next two years will deliver Bakken and Permian crude direct to St. James. Today we wrap up our series on St. James with a look at changing crude prices and flows.

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The Daily Spin

The Los Angeles Times is reporting, in an op-ed:

"United does not generally offer low premium plans in the Marketplaces," Cox and Semanskee report. The company offers the lowest or second-lowest silver plan in about one third of the counties where it participates in 2016. As a result, the effect of a United withdrawal nationally would be modest...The national weighted average benchmark silver plan would have been roughly 1% higher in 2016 had United not participated (less than $4 per month for an unsubsidized 40-year-old)."

HHS supplemented Kaiser's findings with results from healthcare.gov, the website for enrollment on federally-run exchanges. United policies were not priced competitively in any of the five most-populous states where exchange enrollments go through the federal website--Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Georgia. More than 90% of the populations of all five lived in areas where they could find a silver plan cheaper than United's.