WTI Goes Over $52 -- October 16, 2017

Whoo-hoo! WTI above $52. Nor sure what this is all about. OPEC "talking their book" certainly helps. Fundamentals have not changed one bit. It's very possible the Iraqi - Kurdish conflict has something to do with this. Bloomberg says "re-balancing process" is working (as noted, nothing has changed). As noted, OPEC is "talking their book": cartel says oil inventory glut will be gone in one year. And more: OPEC sees "healthy" oil demand growth to 2022.

Argentina prepares for shale boom: $800 million gas pipeline proposed.

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Back To The Bakken

Active rigs:

$52.33↑↑	10/16/2017	10/16/2016	10/16/2015	10/16/2014	10/16/2013
Active Rigs	59	31	67	189	184

RBN Energy: crude oil shuttle pipelines in the Permian's Delaware and Midland basins, part 4.

Permian producers and shippers want to be able to transport their crude oil to whichever destination will give them the best netbacks. But that’s a moving target, so what they really need is destination optionality — something they can only get if the gathering systems and shuttle pipelines that move oil from the lease tie into multiple takeaway pipelines with different end-points like Houston, Corpus Christi and Cushing. Midstream companies are clamoring to meet that need by expanding existing shuttle pipelines and building new ones. Today, we continue our review of intra-Permian shuttle pipelines.

With Permian crude oil production expected to continue rising under just about any foreseeable price scenario, there’s a big push on to expand regional pipeline networks’ capacity to move more crude oil out of the play and — just as important — to give producers and shippers as many destination options as possible. As we said in Part 1, until a few years ago, most of the oil produced in the Permian flowed north to the crude storage and distribution hub in Cushing, OK. By 2011-12, though, rising crude production in the Bakken, western Canada and the Permian itself — combined with too little pipeline capacity from Cushing to the Gulf Coast — caused a supply glut at Cushing. That, in turn, caused heavy discounting for Cushing benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) versus Louisiana Light Sweet (LLS) at the Gulf Coast, and spurred development of new takeaway capacity from the Permian to Houston and other coastal destinations.