Energy Tweets Today -- February 18, 2016

John Kemp tweets that North Dakota's oil production is finally starting to fall in response to sharply lower oil prices and less drilling. He did not note, nor did anyone else, that Bakken oil was selling for $16/bbl yesterday.

This is why OPEC / Russia will not agree on a crude oil production "freeze": John Kemp tweets that the Russian deputy foreign minister says that a "production freeze" would still allow Russia to increase output in 2016. I guess it depends what the definition of "freeze" is.

This is why OPEC / Russia will not agree on a crude oil production "freeze": Stuart Wallace tweets that Iran is "cool" to the idea of a production freeze.

EIA tweets that oil production in the federal Gulf of Mexico is projected to reach a record high in 2017. A reader alerted me to that in an e-mail yesterday. These projects were begun some time ago, and couldn't be stopped.

It appears even the refiners are getting bored with all the crude oil and refined products sloshing around; refiners reported only 88% utilization, according to the EIA.

Tic, tic, tic: Javier Blas provides a startling graph of Venezuela's history of devaluing its currency since 1998. In 1998, the graph suggests a Venezuelan housewife needs to pony up a 10-bolivar bill for something that would have cost her four bolivars as recently as 2012, and only a fourth of a bolivar back in 1998. I suppose the analogy is that a 25-cent gumball in the US back in 1998 would now cost my granddaughter $10. I could be wrong. I don't follow currency devaluations. If this is important to you, ask George Soros. 

Now, for John Kemp's weekly US energy tweets:

• the graph for US natural gas stocks needs to be re-set; the current line is so high it distorts history, and that despite a huge drawdown (158 bcf) last week

That was the only one so far; more to follow, I'm sure.

But this gives me a chance to check on "gasoline demand" as reported by the US EIA. Not yet reported, and it's already 11:30 a.m. back in Washington, DC.

Ah, but now the John Kemp weekly US energy tweets are coming, fast and furious:

• US gasoline consumption continued to rise; it averaged 8.9 million bopd over the past four weeks, up by 263,000 bopd (3%) from 2015
• wow, wow, wow -- the graph for US commercial gasoline stocks needs to be re-set; the current line is so far off the chart it distorts the past (I'll post a screen shot)
• US gasoline stocks are running at highest level for more than a decade even after adjusting for higher consumption

• commercial oil stocks are so far above historical levels, this graph also needs to be reset
• ditto for US total crude and products stocks; these graphs are simply incredible; if you haven't seen these graphs, you need to follow John Kemp over at twitter
• US refineries processed a seasonal record 15.8 million bopd; 
• US distillate stocks rose 1.4 million bbls last week and are now 35 million bbls (27%) higher than in 2015
• US distillate consumption averaged just 3.5 million bopd over the last four weeks, down 650,000 bopd from 2015: