Nice Update On Where Saudi Arabia And Iran Stand With Regard To Crude Oil -- Rigzone -- September 27, 2016

Rigzone link here. Some data points:

To "square the books":

• Saudi Arabia needs $67 oil
• Iran needs $61.50 oil
• currently: about $45

Fiscal deficit:

• Saudi Arabia: fiscal deficit equal to 13.5% GDP
• Iran: compare at 2.5% GDP
• Saudi Arabia: facing double-digit deficit this year
• Iran: nearly balanced its budget this year after economic reforms in 2012/2013 following sanctions 
• Saudi Arabia, 2015, drew down $115 billion last year; 1H16, drew down $52 billion

Economic growth:

• Saudi Arabia: slowly sharply; about 1%
• Iran: accelerating toward 4%

Production:

• Saudi Arabia: around 10 million bopd
• Iran: about 3.4 million bopd; target 4 million bopd

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Bakken Revolution

From The Wall Street Journal today: two years into oil slump, US shale firms are ready to pump more:

Few predicted that in the fall of 2014, when Saudi Arabia signaled that it wouldn’t curb its output to put a floor under crude prices. Oil pundits concluded that a brutal culling would force higher-cost players known as marginal producers—a group that includes shale drillers—out of the market.

But the greatest consequence of the Saudi decision and subsequent price drop is that it has delayed costly oil megaprojects, from deep-water platforms off Angola to oil-sands mines in Canada.

“The U.S. isn’t the marginal barrel but the most flexible,” said R.T. Dukes, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie. “We’ll be the fastest to snap back.”

More than 100 North American energy producers have declared bankruptcy during this downturn, but even companies working through chapter 11 keep pumping oil and gas. Many exit bankruptcy stronger thanks to a balance sheet that has been wiped clean. SandRidge Energy Inc., which filed in May, will exit next month after erasing nearly $3.7 billion in debt.

Many shale operators are still struggling at current prices, drilling at a loss and tapping Wall Street for new infusions of cash. But the strongest producers, including EOG Resources Inc. and Continental Resources Inc., soon will be able to generate enough money to pay for new investments and dividends—as well as boost production—even at low prices, analysts say.

U.S. production began inching up in July, shortly after oil prices rebounded to $50-a-barrel territory. Producers quickly put 100 rigs back to work this summer.

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The Political Page

I did not watch "the debate" last night. Based on how little reporting I see this morning regarding "the debate" it appears I did not miss anything.

This is the USC-LA Times poll from this morning (it is a poll released every day; 3,000 likely voters nationwide). I assume the poll is too early to reflect the sentiments of last night's debate. Red is Trump, blue is Hillary:

Drudge Report poll shows Mr Trump beat Ms Clinton by about 94% to 6%.

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The Market

Close: up 133 points. NYSE --

• new highs: 78 -- FedEx
• new lows: 21 --

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The Apple Page

Problems with math?

Earlier this month, Apple unveiled the new (and slightly improved) Apple Watch. The Apple Watch has a battery life of about 18 hours, meaning that most people tend to leave their watches charging on their nightstand overnight. Given that the Apple Watch doesn’t last through the night, and also is considerably bulkier than the average FitBit or Jawbone tracker (and probably uncomfortable to sleep in), it’s not entirely clear how Apple intends to leverage the existing watch into something that could track sleep. 

I don't know about you, but if my watch battery lasts 18 hours, that will get me through the night.

Oh, I see. You mean if I get up at 6:00 a.m. and then go to bed at 11:00 p.m. the battery will die at midnight -- 18 hours.

Yes.

Oh, I see.  I guess that's why my wife has two Apple watches. I don't think Apple has a problem.

Help Me Make It Through The Night, Norah Jones

Bakken Losing East Coast Market To Rising Imports -- RBN Energy -- September 27, 2016

Active rigs:

	9/27/2016	09/27/2015	09/27/2014	09/27/2013	09/27/2012
Active Rigs	34	71	190	184	189

RBN Energy: Bakken producers losing the East Coast market to rising imports.

The prospects for sellers of Williston Basin/Bakken crude oil in what once was a prime growth market—the U.S. East Coast—have been dwindling fast, as have the volumes of Bakken crude being railed and barged to refineries along the Mid-Atlantic coast and the Canadian Maritimes. Today we look at how a combination of weak crude oil prices, declining production, high relative freight costs, and the lifting of the U.S. crude oil export ban have opened the door to more imports from West Africa, and left Bakken producers out in the cold.

The Bakken remains an American success story, but the play’s star has certainly faded along with declining crude prices. As North Dakota oil production ramped up in 2013 and 2014 (peaking at 1.3 MMb/d in December 2014), shipments of Bakken crude to the U.S. East Coast via rail rose in tandem.  From only 10 Mb/d in 2011, Bakken barrels railed to the East Coast ultimately reached 431 Mb/d in May 2015.

In the early days of CBR, midstream companies, marketers and refiners rushed to develop the infrastructure (rail terminals, rail fleets, etc.) to serve refineries in the Mid-Atlantic states and Maritime Canada. But unfortunately, about the time all that infrastructure was in place, crude prices started to decline, the number of active drilling rigs in the Bakken plummeted, and crude oil production there fell to less than 1.0 MMb/d. 

The decline in production continues today; Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) Drilling Productivity Report projects that Bakken crude production now (as of September 2016) languishes at only 875 Mb/d. Rail shipments to the East Coast in June 2016 averaged only 132 Mb/d, a decline of 69% since the peak in May 2015.