Week 29: July 17, 2016 -- July 23, 2016

There was a lot of talk this past week that things have finally turned for the oil and gas industry. Having said that, all that talk earlier this year suggesting that we would see $60 oil by the end of the year seems to have been just that: talk. With Brexit and the failed Turkish coup (and eventually another failed nation-state), the US dollar strengthens, and that puts pressure on oil. WTI seems stuck at slightly below $45.

The big story this week may have been the announcement that ExxonMobil will acquire InterOil. The story is so far off anyone's radar scope it seems to have been completely missed by the mainstream media -- or maybe they were so tied up with the GOP national convention.

The other big story, of course, was Saudi Aramco's announcement it would build a $13.3 billion natural gas processing plant. 

Meanwhile, closer to home, Devon reports its record Meramec well in STACK, Oklahoma.

Gasoline is hitting 12-year lows.

Operations
32 active rigs in North Dakota
Seventeen permits renewed 

Natural gas
Three new natural gas processing plants should be coming on-lien shortly in North Dakota 

Pipelines
A 1.1 mile pipeline to cost $4.5 million in North Dakota

Bakken Economy
Lewis and Clark bridge southwest of Williston coming along