API Crude Oil Inventory Drops Nicely; WTI Responds In Kind -- March 21, 2018

API: crude oil inventory --

• forecast: a build of 3.2 million bbls
• actual: a drawdown of 2.739 million bbls

***************************************

Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$64.11↑↑	3/21/2018	03/21/2017	03/21/2016	03/21/2015	03/21/2014
Active Rigs	58	50	32	107	197

RBN Energy: why the big spread between WCS (Canadian) and WTI (US) crude oil will stick around.

Western Canadian Select (WCS), a heavy crude oil blend, has been selling for about $25/bbl less than West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at the Cushing, OK, hub — a hard-to-bear experience for oil sands producers that have made big investments over the past few years to ratchet up their output. And the WCS/WTI spread is unlikely to improve much any time soon. Pipeline takeaway capacity out of Alberta has not kept pace with oil sands production growth, and existing pipes are running so full that some owners have been forced to apportion access to them. Crude-by-rail (CBR) is a relief valve, but it can be costly. Worse yet, production continues to increase and the addition of new pipeline capacity is two years away — maybe more — so deep discounts for WCS are likely to stick around.