Tweeting now, John Kemp: US implied gasoline consumption averaged 9.4 million b/d over last 4 weeks and still running at seasonal record.
Recession:
CNBC is reporting --
Of the major energy producers, Alaska, North Dakota, West Virginia and
Wyoming have slipped into recession, according to Moody's. (West
Virginia and Wyoming — both top coal producers — have also been hurt by a
drop in coal production and prices.) The economies of Louisiana,
Oklahoma and New Mexico have stalled — but not yet headed in reverse.
Only Texas has continued to see its economy expand in all but a few
energy-dependent metro areas, according to Moody's.
Most of the article focuses on Alaska, then on Wyoming. With regard to North Dakota:
North Dakota, by comparison, is feeling less pain from the loss of oil taxes.
As home to the Bakken oil field and one of the biggest beneficiaries
of the modern U.S. oil and gas boom, North Dakota has also enjoyed a tax
windfall from a surge in energy production taxes. As of last year,
these so-called severance taxes made up more than half of the state's
revenue.
But North
Dakota has insulated itself somewhat from the crash in oil prices,
largely because its windfall came relatively recently. That meant it's
had less time to find ways to spend those oil and gas riches. The state
has also reduced its reliance on energy revenues with a cap on oil
revenues of $300 million every two years.
"(North Dakota) hasn't overspent," said Moody's Cochrane. "They've
been very, very cautious and conservative in their in budget projection
and their projection for what they energy revenue might be."
And the article ends with Texas, pretty much unscathed.
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Active rigs:
| 4/20/2016 | 04/20/2015 | 04/20/2014 | 04/20/2013 | 04/20/2012 |
|---|
| Active Rigs | 28 | 92 | 188 | 185 | 210 |
RBN Energy:
evolving Gulf Coast pricing and new pipelines to St James.
A year ago (April 2015) the price spread between Light Louisiana Sweet
(LLS) the St. James, LA benchmark light crude and Permian West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) delivered to Houston was roughly $2.50/Bbl. In the
first quarter of 2016 – following the end of the crude export ban and
the crash of crude prices below $40.bbl – that spread narrowed to 30
cents/Bbl. This price differential change has thrown a wrench into
traditional Gulf Coast price relationships that encouraged the flow of
crude east from Houston to Louisiana. Further changes are expected as
pipeline projects due to be completed in the next two years will deliver
Bakken and Permian crude direct to St. James. Today we wrap up our
series on St. James with a look at changing crude prices and flows.
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The Daily Spin
The Los Angeles Times is reporting, in an op-ed:
"United does not generally offer low premium plans in the
Marketplaces," Cox and Semanskee report. The company offers the lowest
or second-lowest silver plan in about one third of the counties where it
participates in 2016. As a result, the effect of a United withdrawal
nationally would be modest...The national weighted average benchmark
silver plan would have been roughly 1% higher in 2016 had United not
participated (less than $4 per month for an unsubsidized 40-year-old)."
HHS
supplemented Kaiser's findings with results from healthcare.gov, the
website for enrollment on federally-run exchanges. United policies were
not priced competitively in any of the five most-populous states where
exchange enrollments go through the federal website--Florida, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Georgia. More than 90% of the populations of all
five lived in areas where they could find a silver plan cheaper than
United's.
