WTI At 7-Year Low; Around $37 -- December 8, 2015

Price of gasoline, 1918 - present:

Truax oil field has been updated. Link here. 

Active rigs:

	12/8/2015	12/08/2014	12/08/2013	12/08/2012	12/08/2011
Active Rigs	64	191	193	181	202

RBN Energy: Part 2 on Corpus Christi, December 8, 2015.

Over the past few years, midstream companies have responded to the boom in crude oil and lease condensate production in the Eagle Ford and the Permian by developing significant new pipeline capacity to, as well as storage and dock facilities in, both Houston and Corpus Christi. Now, with production in the Eagle Ford off its high and growth in the Permian slowing, these same midstreamers (and producers, marketers, refiners, and exporters of condensate and other refined products) are taking stock, and assessing not only what new infrastructure might still be needed in this period of lowered expectation, but whether shifting more of their attention (and liquids) towards Corpus instead of Houston might be warranted. Today, we continue our look at Corpus Christi’s increasing role as a crude/condensate powerhouse.

Even with the declines in drilling and completion activity we’ve been seeing with lower oil prices, a lot of light crude and lease condensate is still being produced in the Eagle Ford and the Permian Basin. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) drilling productivity report (DPR), crude and condensate production in the Permian is estimated to be just over 2 MMb/d in November 2015 (up slightly from a year ago); production in the Eagle Ford (where the active rig count is flirting with 100—off from an average of 250 in the 2012-14 period) has been sliding of late, and is estimated to be 1.3 MMb/d in the same month. Together that’s a huge 3.3 MMb/d of crude and condensate to move to market.

As we said in Episode 1, Corpus Christi is now a competitive alternative to Houston as a market hub for Eagle Ford and Permian crude and condensate headed to the Gulf Coast. Not only is Corpus close to (and well-connected by pipeline with) the Eagle Ford and connected (to a lesser degree) with the Permian, the city and its environs boast considerable crude/condensate storage, oil-refining and growing condensate splitting capacity, as well as one of the nation’s best and busiest ports. Let’s begin this time with an overview of crude/condensate pipelines out of the two plays to Corpus and Houston.