Al Troner's Article In Oil & Gas Journal On Light Ends -- June 6, 2016

Link here: http://www.ogj.com/articles/print/volume-114/issue-6/general-interest/surge-in-ngl-and-tight-oil-supplies-creates-worldwide-light-ends-space.html. It begins:

While many analysts agree that oversupply, rather than weak demand, led to the current slump in the price of crude oil, few have looked closely at the nature of that supply overhang.

In a new study, Asia Pacific Energy Consulting (APEC) has examined in depth the role of NGLs, in particular condensate, in creating the current surplus, as well as the impact of tight oil and its light derivatives.1 The condensate, other NGLs (LPG and ethane), light products, and tight oil yielding much of the new light-product supply all occupy the same light segment of the hydrocarbon spectrum.

The shale revolution has spurred a ballooning of NGL output, paralleled by dizzying growth in tight oil production. Almost all of this incremental liquids production has been light and sweet. The growing volume of this material, with incremental supply in the millions of barrels per day, has begun to shift pricing, trade, marketing, and supply-demand balances for crude-light-heavy vs. sweet-sour-and in products, with notable supply gains in LPG, gasoline, and naphtha in contrast to middle-barrel and heavy products.

A "light-ends space" is emerging, not only in the US and the Atlantic Basin but also globally, as markets attempt to adjust to this surge in light, low-sulfur hydrocarbon supply.

Archived; great article. Lots of implications for the Bakken, for export.