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Friday, December 7, 2018

CLR Reports Another Huge Wiley Well Today -- December 7, 2018

One one well coming off the confidential list today -- Friday, December 7, 2018:
PoolDateDaysBBLS OilRunsBBLS WaterMCF ProdMCF SoldVent/Flare
BAKKEN10-2018312341023403912950143454794412
BAKKEN9-20183027645276051663659202538195113
BAKKEN8-20182522053221341466046372431653008
BAKKEN7-20183135281351983425073203687814174
BAKKEN6-20181512662125851564523509220391301

Active rigs:


$51.5712/7/201812/07/201712/07/201612/07/201512/07/2014
Active Rigs63533964188


Price of neighborhood regular unleaded gasoline: $1.89. 

RBN Energy: major fundamental shifts swing crude oil prices in Canada.
For months, the crude oil market had Canada figured out. Production was growing, bit by bit.
Pipelines were maxed out. Railcars were hard to come by but were providing some incremental takeaway capacity. Midwest refineries, a big destination for Canadian crude, went in and out of turnaround season, moving prices as they ramped-up runs. Overall, the supply and demand math was straightforward also, tilted towards excess production.
Canadian crude prices were going to continue to be heavily discounted for the next year or two, until one of the new pipeline systems being planned was approved and completed. Western Canadian Select (WCS) a heavy crude blend and regional benchmark was averaging at a discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) near $40/bbl in November, dragging down Syncrude prices with it.
As the market was settling in for a long, cold winter in Canada, a bombshell dropped:
Alberta’s premier announced on December 2 (2018) that regulators would institute a mandatory production cut, taking 325 Mb/d of production offline, and that the government would invest in new crude-by-rail tankcars. That announcement has had a massive impact on prices, with WCS’s differential narrowing to $18.50/bbl most recently. In today’s blog, we look at several catalysts for the recent swing in Canadian prices, and how the recent governmental intervention will impact differentials.
The fact that Canadian crude has been heavily discounted to WTI at the Cushing (OK) hub is nothing new. We most recently discussed these price differentials and analyzed the price breakdown last spring.
Canadian prices have been subject to massive discounts due to a severe lack of takeaway capacity. WCS has been steadily trading at a double-digit discount to WTI for years due to a limited number of outlets for barrels.
WCS had averaged a discount of $26/bbl in 2018 before widening even further to $50/bbl on October 11.
Syncrude, WCS’s lighter brother (red line), had been averaging a $5/bbl discount before blowing out to $30/bbl in October and $34/bbl in early November. During that time, there was a myriad of bad news engulfing Canadian crude differentials.
The Keystone XL pipeline project, which finally appeared to be heading for daylight, was hit with another ruling from a federal judge to halt construction. Canadian producers Canadian Natural Resources, MEG Energy, Cenovus Energy and ConocoPhillips all announced they were going to cut back on some production until prices improved. And many of those same producers also announced they had signed year-or-longer commitments to ship crude via rail, signaling that they were worried enough about long-term pipeline constraints that they would roll the dice on more expensive, binding take-or-pay rail deals.

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