Three Wells Coming Off The Confidential List -- July 23, 2021

Repeating for the umpteenth time: China is the swing consumer. As oil prices increase, China shuts down imports. Link here. 

Texas upstream: job growth doubles. Link here. Rounded; actual number? 94%.

US pipeline cyberattacks: China. -- FBI. 

Chariots on fire: GM recalls Bolts. Two new fires. Link here. Not less than a couple of months ago, Phil LeBeau mentioned that EV fires no more frequent than ICE fires. Okay.

Cleveland Guardians.

Olympic Parade in nearly empty stadium.

Moderna: cleared for those between ages 12 and 17 in Europe.

Natural gas: closed above $4 for the first time since 2018. European gas markets continue to trade close to their highest in more than ten years. Asian LNG is trading at unusually high levels for the season. Link here. 

S&P: hits new all-tie intra-day high. 

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Back to the Bakken

ET/DAPL put on notice by Biden administration: link here.  

The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration listed probable violations ranging from the location of storm water drainage at six pipeline facilities and failure to follow assessment guidelines relating to possible incidents in sensitive areas where the pipeline operates.

The PHMSA recommended a civil penalty of $93,200 against the company for the violations and said failure to correct the issues may result in further enforcement action.

Active rigs:

$71.78	7/23/2021	07/23/2020	07/23/2019	07/23/2018	07/23/2017
Active Rigs	23	12	57	66	58

Three wells coming off confidential list -- Friday, July 23, 2021: 10 for the month, 10 for the quarter, 190 for the year:

• 37889, conf, Petro-Hunt, State 158-91-16C-9-3H, Kittleson Slough, producing, NDIC has not posted new results;
• 37259, conf, Nine Point Energy, S Missouri 152-103-4-2-9H, Eightmile, producing, NDIC has not posted new results;
• 35562, conf, Liberty Resources, McGinnity E 159-93-31-30-4TFH, Northwest McGregor, producing, NDIC has not posted new results;

RBN Energy: how the FERC sets oil and gas pipeline rates, part 3. 

Oil and gas pipeline regulation have two things in common: They’re both regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and they were both brought under regulatory oversight in the first place by a Roosevelt — oil pipelines by Teddy Roosevelt and gas pipelines by Franklin Roosevelt.  

However, that’s where the similarities end.  

They’re regulated under different statutes, with wildly different histories that have led to very different types of oversight and rate structures. These rules tend to offer oil pipelines a higher degree of flexibility, but in doing so, they also make their rate structures less predictable. Today, we wrap up our review of oil and gas pipelines, and how their separate histories led to the current differences in pipeline rate structures, this time with a focus on oil pipeline ratemaking.