Wells Coming Off The Confidential List Will Be Reported Later Today -- Six Months Ago It Was A Monday, Late Spring -- November 20, 2018

Wells coming off the confidential list today will be posted later today when the daily activity report is released.

Active rigs:

$56.38😟	11/20/2018	11/20/2017	11/20/2016	11/20/2015	11/20/2014
Active Rigs	62	56	39	65	186

RBN Energy: contango markets and their influence on Cushing inventories.

During the summer of 2018, crude oil inventories at the trading hub in Cushing, OK, dropped to extreme lows. With estimated tank bottoms around 14.6 MMbbl, Cushing stockpiles hit 21.8 MMbbl for the week of August 3. Traders’ alarm bells were ringing, and upstream and downstream observers were wondering if low storage levels were going to cause significant operational issues. But just when it seemed tanks were nearing catastrophic lows, inventories reversed course and started to climb.

Since August, crude stocks have increased by 13.6 MMbbl, or nearly 60%, and there is now talk of potentially too much crude en route to Cushing, maxing out capacity there. There are many contributing factors to this most recent inventory swing, with increased domestic production and the tail end of refinery turnaround season being two of the bigger fundamental drivers. But the main catalyst has been the shift from a backwardated forward curve to a contango forward curve in the WTI futures market. Today, we continue our Cushing series with a snapshot of recent contango markets and the impact those prices have had on stockpiles at the central Oklahoma hub.