July 3, 2014 -- More Americans Hired -- Just In Time -- The Extra Cash Needed For Record Gasoline Prices

Active rigs:

	7/3/2014	07/03/2013	07/03/2012	07/03/2011	07/03/2010
Active Rigs	189	190	215	172	133

RBN Energy: anyone interested in NGL fractionation in Louisiana, and EPD, needs to read this article.

Ever-increasing production of natural gas liquids is driving another round of fractionation capacity expansions in Mont Belvieu, TX, which is—and will remain—the hub of US fractionation activity.  But Mont Belvieu fractionators are not without competition. Huge increases in fractionator capacity are also coming on-line in Appalachia to handle the rising volumes of natural gas liquids (NGLs) coming out of the Marcellus and Utica.  Mont Belvieu may be king of fractionation, but others want a share of the kingdom.  Today we update the ongoing NGL production boom and plans to add fractionation capacity in Mont Belvieu and NGL-related export capability nearby.

Production of mixed NGLs has risen sharply in the past five years, and the pace of growth is only increasing.  Almost all of these mixed NGLs are the product of natural gas processing plants, which have increased in number by about 125 or 25 percent over the five year period.  Fractionation facilities separate mixed NGL streams (sometimes known as “y-grade”) into so called “purity” products - ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane and natural gasoline (also known as C5+) that are used in a wide variety of petrochemical, heating, gasoline blending and other markets. Mont Belvieu (about 30 miles east of Houston) has traditionally been the center of the fractionation world because of geography and geology. It is located near several oil and gas production regions; it is in the heart of petrochemical production; it is along the coast (necessary for both importing and exporting); and it sits atop one of the world’s largest salt dome formations (which provide ideal storage capacity for all kinds of volatile hydrocarbon products that must be stored under pressure). Given the US’s new leadership in the availability of low-cost NGLs, another key reason for Mont Belvieu’s importance is its proximity to existing and planned olefin cracking capacity and to existing and planned export facilities for propane, butane and other NGLs. As we have said in many other RBN Energy posts, the US shale revolution is spurring a major revival of petrochemical production, particularly along the Gulf Coast, that will result not only in increased olefin production (petrochemicals such as ethylene, propylene, etc.),  but in increased exports of olefins and their derivative products.  Because of its leader status, Mont Belvieu prices for NGLs and purity products also serve as the benchmarks, or prices against which NGL prices in other parts of the US are referenced.

The Wall Street Journal

I guess Hamas was upset it had been pushed off the front page of Mideast newspapers by events in Syria and Iraq, so they execute three Israeli teenagers (I think one had US citizenship) and now Israel retaliates -- and that's the headline: violence escalates in Israel. John Kerry, I assume, will be in Tel Aviv this weekend to commemorate a new global warming museum. Of course, that begs the question where we will find POTUS this weekend. And no, the White House chef is not adding crack cocaine to the pies. At least according to Michelle.

Shiites are in training in holy city.

Ukraine presses ahead with offensive.

Retail chain Target to customers: no guns, please.

Gas prices wallop wallets. And, in other news, the Keystone XL is still dead. I think I read somewhere the company is starting to sell that all that pipe that has been sitting in staging areas for five years. Don't quote me on that; I could be wrong. So the recovery is working, at least for those invested in oil and gas companies: Americans will be paying more for gas than on any Independence Day weekend since the record highs during President Bush's presidency in 2008. 

Same ol', same ol': US stocks hit record. That was yesterday. Today the market closes at noon EDT and indications are we will hit yet another record.

The Los Angeles Times

Top story -- US economy adds 288,000 jobs in June.* Dow breaks 17,000 following strong US jobs gains.

If you thought the VA was a shambles, remember: the same folks running the VA are running ObamaCare. From today's LA Times: ObamaCare: legal aid groups demand -- yes, demand -- answers on Medi-Cal backlog. Sound familiar? Backlog? Opening paragraph: with low-income Californians continuing to face months-long delays in getting healthcare coverage, health advocates are calling on the state to explain within ten (10) days how it will address lingering Obamacare application delays. (Hint: California will look to the VA for answers.) [Update, later, 10:01 p.m. CDT: I wrote that tongue-in-cheek about California turning to the VA to help with ObamaCare application delays. It turns out that's exactly what was going on: while veterans were dying waiting for healthcare appointments at the VA, the government directed that VA employees switch from processing VA applications to processing ObamaCare applications. I can't make this stuff up.

Let the fights begin: abortion foes get up close and personal after court erases buffer zones. What were they thinking?

*About that jobs report:

• record number of Americans not in labor force; not looking; record high = 92 million
• black unemployment more than double white unemployment number; 10.7% blacks unemployed
• all levels of government must be doing better financially; back to hiring