WTI Starts The Day Under $60 -- February 13, 2018

WTI: now below $59.

WTI, once again, the global benchmark for pricing/trading? From oilprice.com:

The surge of supply has made WTI more useful to global traders and shippers. In 2017, trading volumes of WTI futures surpassed those of Brent by the largest margin in at least seven years. About 310 million U.S. crude futures contracts — worth $16 trillion — was traded on NYMEX, or nearly 30 percent more than contracts in ICE’s Brent crude futures.

Protesteth too much: Saudi Arabian oil minister tired of all this shale hype. I assume he does not let his staff read this blog.

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Shaden

Updates

February 19, 2018: everything went perfectly. The Shaden has now set sail for China.

Original Post

LOOP testing begins for bidirectional crude oil flows (loading/unloading) for supertankers in the GoM for export. Perhaps the biggest US energy story of the week: US supertanker terminal set to export oil for the first time.

The flood of crude leaving the U.S. could be about to get a major boost: the nation’s top imports terminal is testing one of the industry’s biggest tankers to load an export cargo for the first time.

If the trial run signals the start of regular exports from Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, it will be a step change in America’s capacity to export the burgeoning production that’s roiled global oil markets. The ability to load very large crude carriers, the industry term for giant ships able to carry two million barrels, will significantly cut the cost of shipping cargoes overseas. [Equal to the output of the entire Bakken production over two days.]

On its website, the terminal said it’s testing a supertanker following modifications last year to allow crude exports. Shipping data compiled by Bloomberg and cargo tracking firm Kpler show the tanker is the Saudi Arabian-owned Shaden, chartered by China’s largest oil trader last month.

LOOP has been a vital piece of U.S. energy infrastructure for more than 30 years, handling imports from across the world as well as gathering crude pumped from deepwater deposits in the Gulf of Mexico.

Again, you can track this vessel -- the Shaden -- at this site (track marine traffic). Most recent update, February 12, 2018, yesterday, suggests that this vessel is already underway. If accurate, the "test" must have been a success. The vessel is headed SE (134 degrees) at 0.6 knots; under own power.

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The Electricity Page

North Dakota: on the low list, #5 nationwide. Two of the five, Washington state and Idaho blessed with hydroelectricity.

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Back to the Bakken

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$58.88↓↓	2/13/2018	02/13/2017	02/13/2016	02/13/2015	02/13/2014
Active Rigs	58	36	41	137	188

RBN Energy: Mexico's increasingly open natural gas market, and CFEnergia's role in it.