"Shale's Best Days Are Behind Us" -- Art Berman -- May 15, 2018

I do not know what Art Berman means when he says, "shale's best days are behind us."

Remember, the shale revolution -- and Berman says there was no revolution -- began in 2007.

This year, that revolution -- or whatever you want to call it -- barely a decade old, will result in US shale output rising to a record 7.18 million bbls. The EIA says that will happen in June, next month, 2018.

I don't know if Art Berman visited Williston in 2010, and I don't know if he has been in the Permian this year. I assume he has. From what I saw and what I'm reading, the activity in the Permian is now exceeding what we saw during the Bakken boom. The folks at The Atlantic Monthly need to visit the Permian. Assuming they can find a place to stay for a few days.

From the linked article:

U.S. shale production is expected to rise by about 145,000 barrels per day to a record 7.18 million bpd in June, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Monday.
A majority of the increase is expected to come from the Permian basin, the biggest U.S. oil patch, where output is expected to climb 78,000 bpd to a fresh record of 3.28 million bpd.

Soaring Permian crude production has already outpaced pipeline takeaway capacity, depressing prices in the region and leaving traders scrambling for alternatives to get crude to market.

Bakken output is expected to rise 20,000 bpd to 1.24 million bpd, the highest since June 2015, while Eagle Ford production is set to rise 33,000 bpd to 1.39 million bpd, the highest since February 2016. [And this is with only 60 active rigs -- Baker Hughes says 57 -- compared to 83 rigs in 2015.]

Production in the United States has surged thanks to the shale boom, helping send U.S. crude futures' discount to international benchmark Brent crude futures to the widest in six months.

Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas production was projected to increase to a record 68.1 billion cubic feet per day in June. That would be up almost 1.1 bcfd over the May forecast and would be the fifth monthly increase in a row.

A year ago in June output was just 56.4 bcfd.

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

COP To Divest Assets In the North Sea

Things are moving so quickly and there is so much going on, it is impossible for me to remember what I have posted and what I have not posted. I do not recall having posted this earlier, but it sounds familiar. Whatever.

From oilprice.com:

ConocoPhillips is focusing on its U.S. shale business and is getting ready to sell some or all of its North Sea assets that could fetch US$2 billion.

ConocoPhillips—which had tried to sell some of its North Sea assets in 2014 but failed—has not yet launched a sales process or appointed banks, according to Reuters’ sources.

Executives from the U.S. oil company, however, are said to have recently met and spoken with several operators in the North Sea and with bankers to “gauge the appetite for the sale”, one of the sources told Reuters.

ConocoPhillips has been operating in the UK and Norwegian parts of the North Sea for more than 50 years.

In the UK, ConocoPhillips’s total production in 2017 stood at 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

The Dow is down 200 points, almost 1%. COP is up 0.7%, flirting with a 52-week high, and paying a dividend of 1.64%.  COP was paying 74 cents/share in 2015, and then abruptly cut it to 25 cents/share that same year.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.

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

The Only Question: Which Singer To Feature With This Song

Nope: No Question

Faded Love, Patsy Cline

From wiki:

Due to the airplane crash that ended Cline's life, her version was never released on a studio album. Instead, it was belatedly released on Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits, a compilation album in 1967. Cline's version was originally intended to be the title cut for a planned album and was made at what turned out to be the last recording session before her death.