Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Active rigs:

	10/28/2015	10/28/2014	10/28/2013	10/28/2012	10/28/2011
Active Rigs	68	191	180	186	200

RBN Energy: Opening Up Mexico’s LPG Market.

U.S.-based companies soon may have expanded opportunities in Mexico’s liquefied petroleum gas market—not just in supplying LPG from U.S. natural gas processing complexes and oil refineries but in storing and delivering the propane/butane mix to customers. The emerging opportunities are tied largely to Mexico’s efforts to open up and deregulate its energy sector, whose LPG sub-sector has long been dominated by the government-owned Petroleos Mexicanos and hamstrung by LPG price controls. Today, we conclude our series on propane/butane supply, demand and infrastructure South of the Border.

LPG (mostly propane but including some butane, two members of the natural gas liquids – NGL – family) is relatively inexpensive—at least it is right now—but delivering it to market isn’t easy. LPG has a low boiling point (somewhere between 30 degrees Fahrenheit and -43 degrees F, depending on the propane/butane mix), and it has to be kept under pressure to remain a liquid for cost-effective transportation. That means delivering LPG in pressurized pipelines, ships, railcars and/or trucks, and ultimately (when delivered to residential and small commercial customers) by truck-mounted hoses into mounted or buried tanks or by hand in small, pressurized tanks similar to those attached to millions of U.S. barbecue grills. Delivering LPG in Mexico can be particularly challenging; LPG pipeline infrastructure there is modest (at best), and the common use of LPG for cooking and heating--even in many major metropolitan areas—means the retail truck supply chain is extensive.

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FWIW

First Titan Corp -- the ticker symbol gives you some idea of the company -- OTCBB: FTTN released a press release in which it mentioned the Bakken:

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Titan Corp. (OTCBB: FTTN), fresh off signing a letter of intent (LOI) for a West Texas property, has indicated it may be interested in pursuing additional oil and gas leases in North Dakota’s famous Bakken Shale region in the wake of Occidental Petroleum’s fire sale there earlier this month.

FTTN continues to identify promising acquisition targets and, as mentioned above, recently signed an LOI for a property in the Cline Shale region of Texas. The company has also attended industry conventions to build its network of contacts and lay the groundwork for potential future deals and partnerships.

FTTN is also currently pursuing opportunities in Mexico and in enhanced oil recovery.

The by-line (Las Vegas) says it all.