Friday, July 17, 2015 -- Update On Pipeline Activity In PADD 4 (MT, CO, UT, ID)

Active rigs:

	7/17/2015	07/17/2014	07/17/2013	07/17/2012	07/17/2011
Active Rigs	74	196	189	209	178

RBN Energy: Impact of New EIA Natural Gas Storage Regions on Storage Predictions. See the new EIA natural gas "fill rate" regions at the link.

Analyst estimates for this week's Energy Information Administration (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report before its release were rallying around an expectation of a 95-Bcf injection, according to the Wall Street Journal's survey of storage analysts. The actual number reported by EIA yesterday was a 99-Bcf injection, more or less in line with analyst expectations. But predictions may get a bit harder later this year. The EIA is preparing to redraw its US natural gas storage map and begin reporting inventory data in new regions later this year (2015). In August, prior to the launch of the revamped report, it will release a file with historical data for each of the new regions. The historical data will for the first time allow modelers to run their regressions and gather statistical information by which to rebuild their storage models designed to foretell the weekly EIA storage number. In the meantime, we did our own unscientific analysis of the regional breakdown and how it will change transparency in gas storage activity.

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Update On Pipeline Activity In Rocky Mountain Region, PADD 4

A few days ago EIA posted CBR / pipeline shipments out of Rocky Mountain Region.

Today the Denver Business Journal posted a story on that data, as well as noted some pipeline activity in the region:

The region’s pipelines carry crude to customers in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast and those shipments have risen from 184,600 barrels per day in 2010 to 264,400 barrels per day in 2014.

And that figure is rising.

Through the first four months of 2014, crude oil shipments out of the Rocky Mountain region via pipeline have averaged 429,000 barrels per day — up 132 percent from 2010.

And several pipeline projects are underway to add capacity between the Rocky Mountains and Cushing, Oklahoma, a major pipeline and storage hub.

Among the projects, SemGroup Corp.’s White Cliff Pipeline will be expanded to a be able to handle up to 215,000 barrels per day. That project is expected to be finished in late 2015, the EIA said.

Also underway is the expansion of the Grand Mesa Pipeline, owned by NGL Energy Partners LP. That project will boost the pipeline’s capacity to a total of 200,000 barrels per day and is expected to be finished in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Finally, Tulsa-based Magellan Midstream Partners has its own project, the Saddlehorn Pipeline, which will have a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day. That project is expected to be done in the second quarter of 2016, the report said.

Three new (or expanded) pipelines mentioned: over 600,000 bopd out of PADD 4 --just four states -- Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and Idaho.

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New Health Care Clinic Opens In Watford City

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

The health care picture in Watford City is improving with Sanford Health opening a 1,900-square-foot clinic and adding visiting specialists while a new hospital employee housing facility has been completed.

Starting Aug. 11, Sanford specialists will begin seeing patients at the new clinic at 116 8th St. NE offering cardiology, podiatry and orthopedics services along with free injury and sports medicine screenings.

More at the link. 

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Update On Typhoon Off West Mexico / South of Baja California

 Spiraling out to sea.