Filloon On Cimarex In The Permian -- August 17, 2018; Pleasant Surprise -- Active Rigs In ND Jump To 60

Can US shale stop a global oil supply crisis? From oilprice. Some nice data points and interesting perspective. 


How many nails in a coffin does it take? 

Keystone XL delayed again, and this one is a long delay. and there is still a second court case in Nebraska that could upend everything. From oilprice: the US State Department must review the entire project now that Nebraska has approved an alternate route. And, of course, the alternate route in Nebraska is being contested in court. One would think that only the short segment in Nebraska that was revised would require an environmental impact study, but the judge ruled that the entire pipeline -- from Canada to Cushing must be reviewed -- start all over again. Not just an amendment.

Filloon: update on Cimarex as huge Permian wells increase oil outputs.

Opportunities abound in the oil sector after significant sell off.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.

Trucking: wow, how many times have we written about this in the past year? From The WSJ.

GOM: reduced royalty rates will lead to even greater increase in GOM activity -- Rigzone. 

Making America great again: youth unemployment hits 52-year low. From The WSJ. Headline/story: bark bigger than the bite. Note labor participation rate. What a great country.

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Back to the Bakken

Wells coming off the confidential list today:

• 32231, 2,706, WPX, Elm 19-18HQ, Mandaree, 4 sections, Three Forks, 41 stages; 6.1 million lbs, a nice well; 44K in less than 2 months; t6/18; cum 45K 6/18; [#20517 to the west, never taken off-line showed a nice little jump in production]
  

Active rigs:

$65.96→	8/17/2018	08/17/2017	08/17/2016	08/17/2015	08/17/2014
Active Rigs	60	53	32	74	194

RBN Energy: how crude refiners, midstreamers and shipping companies are preparing for jIMO 2020. This will be very interesting. How will Canada be affected?

Implementation Day for the IMO 2020 rule on low-sulfur marine fuel — is ticking, and while that date may still seem far away, it is decidedly not.

The impending switch from 3.5%-sulfur fuel oil to marine fuel with sulfur content no higher than 0.5% will affect a broad swath of the energy sector worldwide, not to mention consumers of diesel and other low-sulfur distillates that will be in much higher demand by this time next year as the run-up to IMO 2020 kicks into high gear.

Already, complex and simple refineries alike are evaluating changes to their crude slates and planning to add equipment that will enable them to produce more high-value distillate and less “bottom-of-the-barrel” residual fuel oil, the source of high-sulfur marine fuel.

U.S. midstream companies are gearing up to export more light, sweet crude from the Permian and other shale and tight-oil plays to simple refineries that will no longer be able to get by refining heavy, sour crudes. Marine-fuel suppliers are testing various blends to see which might produce IMO 2020-compliant fuel at the lowest cost. As for ship owners, they’re preparing for topsy-turvy fuel prices in late 2019 and 2020 as this wrenching change plays out. Today, we consider key market participants’ latest thinking on the likely effects of the new rule for low-sulfur marine fuel.