Another NFL-Free Sunday -- December 3, 2017

I spent the day out and about with Sophia so I don't know what's going on in the NFL today. Don sent this link: Ravens, NFL scramble as fans stay home.

But with six wins and five losses, the Ravens are fighting for a wild card spot in the playoffs. If the season ended now, they would capture the sixth and final American Football Conference spot, good for a first-round matchup with the Tennessee Titans.

And despite that possibility, Ravens fans are staying home. Wow. In a reply e-mail to Don, I said:

It's my understanding that TV is not airing the national anthem, so the players are not getting national attention, but the fans are seeing it and are not happy. I assume a lot of fans are showing up late simply so they don't have to watch players kneeling.

Anyway, enough of that. On to bigger and better things.

Later: wow, this is truly amazing:

The photo is a bit disingenuous: the game is not underway; players are running out on to the field (I assume the teams remained in their locker rooms during the national anthem). At best, the seats began to fill in after the national anthem -- the fans voting with their feet their displeasure over kneeling. At the link, one will see even huge swaths of empty seats in the lower sections along the 50-yard line.

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Cleaning Out The In-Box

A huge thanks to all those readers who continued to send me stories/links when I took the day off on Friday. An earlier post explains why I had to take that day off.

There are just too  many stories/links that readers sent me; if I post them as I go along with current news, a lot of stories will be significantly delayed.

So, I will post the headlines/links so that, at least for the archives, the stories are available.

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Bakken Beginning To Thrive Again

From The West Fargo Pioneer:

Hess' 2017 net production in the Bakken has been 105,000 barrels a day, which Lohnes said could grow to 175,000 barrels in a couple of years. The company is looking at adding more drilling rigs next year to deliver about 100 new wells, increasing production by about 10 percent.

Part of what continues to make the Bakken attractive are efficiencies gained since 2010 that make it less costly and more productive to drill, Lohnes said. The drilling cycle time has dropped from an average of 50 days to just 15 days, while initial well production is up more than 300 percent. 

For CLR, Oasis, Slawson, XTO, WPX, et al, one word: ditto.

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Bakken On Its Way To Two Million BOPD

Bakken, 2 million bopd. I often mention that, unfettered, North Dakota could produce 2 million bopd, doubling current production. That's not a number picked out of "thin air" (a phrase coined by Shakespeare, by the way). It's based on a study some years ago. Now, it appears that others are suggesting the same thing. A reader linked this RBN Energy article which I had previously posted, but provided these comments:

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum stated he wants the Bakken to produce 2 million bopd. Soon politicians will be able to spend again. Takeaway capacity of almost 3 million bopd with pipeline and CBR and this is w/o Keystone XL.

Projection of 1.4 million bopd by end of 2020. I don't think it will take that long.

Now with tax cuts. Bring on another refinery and a cracker plant.

I agree.

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Bakken Trades At Premium To Cushing

This is a great article for newbies, from Hellenic Shipping. 

Benchmark WTI and Bakken delivered to the Texas coast are both trading at a $4/bl premium to WTI Cushing for January amid rising pipeline access for Permian crude to reach the Gulf coast.

For January delivery to Magellan’s east Houston terminal, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) started the trade month today between $3.90 and $4.20/bl over the Cushing benchmark. Light sweet Bakken crude for January delivery to Nederland or Beaumont, Texas, is valued about 10¢/bl under WTI Houston.

Today, Argus launched an assessment for Bakken crude delivered to Nederland or Beaumont via the Energy Transfer Crude Oil pipeline (ETCOP) by way of the 525,000 b/d Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). The assessment reflects the Bakken value relative to CMA Nymex WTI plus an Argus WTI differential to CMA, and includes transactions done as a differential to CMA Nymex WTI plus the balance of trade month prices (Balmo) for the Argus WTI differential to CMA price. Typical US pipeline spot market trades are done as an instantaneous exchange of the grade for Domestic Sweet (DSW) crude in Cushing to establish a differential to the light sweet benchmark WTI. But trading Bakken as a differential to the calendar month average may be preferable in an export market as it does not require the exchange of the Cushing grade.

Bakken last traded at Beaumont at $5.20/bl premium to December WTI on 17 November, when December WTI Houston was $5.29/bl over the benchmark. December WTI Houston ended the trade month at an average premium to Cushing of around $5/bl.

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BridgeTex To Expand

Takeaway Capacity In The Permian Increases

From Zacks.

Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. MMP along with Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. PAA, its joint venture partner in BridgeTex Pipeline Company, LLC, announced plans to increase the capacity of the BridgeTex pipeline by 40,000 barrels per day (bpd). The joint venture also announced an additional open season to evaluate the demand for increased capacity, which will give potential customers an opportunity to come out with binding commitments by Dec 30, 2017.

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Japan Could Invest In Mideast Oil Projects

From Japan News: OPEC nations must speed up reforms to break from dependence on oil.

Japan is an oil-importing nation, but it should welcome, to a degree, the coordinated production cuts that have brought price stability.

Most recently, the market price has recovered to around $60. Despite this, the decision to continue the output cuts stems from the severe deterioration in the finances of major oil-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia.

These nations are now paying the price for extending loose fiscal policies, such as making a wide range of public services free of charge, while oil prices were high.

The underlying structure of oil dependence and financial difficulty being felt by oil-producing nations is much the same. These nations must not waste the extension of the coordinated output cuts, and effectively use this period as much as possible to rebuild their finances and nurture new industries.

The dominant view is that oil prices will nosedive again when the coordinated output cuts end.

If oil-producing countries in the Middle East and elsewhere press forward with structural reform of the industry, they will gain some reserves for adjusting their oil production.

This could contribute to the stability of both the crude oil market and international financial markets, such as stock markets. There are expectations Japan will proactively support these reforms through direct investment and technical cooperation projects in Middle Eastern nations.

That's a nice op-ed but I doubt it will amount to much. I don't know much about Japan and petrochemicals, but when thinking about petrochemicals, Japan is not the first country I think of.