Mexico's Refineries Struggle To Reach 30% Operating Capacity -- RBN Energy -- December 21, 2018

Maria Energy: eastern Atlantic, approaching Strait of Gibralter. Tracking here. Original story here. Destination: TBC (to be confirmed). 

East Coast states to block seismic surveys in Atlantic. From Bloomberg. What can I say?

US Gulf of Mexico on track for historic 2019. From Rigzone. What can I say?

Venezuela:gasoline shortages grip the nation's capital. From Bloomberg. What can I say?

Refining capacity:

• US routinely operates between 89% and 96% capacitiy.
• Mexico? struggles to operate at 30% capacity -- wow, I did not know it was that bad
• how does the new president plan to fix that? build a new refinery -- see below
• Venezuela? I assume it's close to 0%. But I don't know.

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Back to the Bakken

Wells coming off confidential list today -- Friday, December 21, 2018:

• 34942, SI/NC, XTO, Dakota Federal 42X-36CR, Bear Den, no production data, 
• 34922, SI/NC, Slawson, Whitmore 3-7-6H, Parshall, no production data, see more on the Whitmore wells at this post;
• 29793, 1,634, Hunt, Cook 146-93-24-13H-3, Werner, completion report not yet available at NDIC, but FracFocus: 9.3 million gallons of water; 91% water -- typical Bakken frack, t11/18; cum --

Geology; from the file report #29793 --

The Cook 146-93-24-13H-3 target objective is the Middle Bakken Formation. Offset wells used for correlation include the Cook 146-93-24-13H-1 and Cook 146-93-24-13H-2.

The, Hunt Exploration team identifies three main sequences within the Middle Bakken.

The first is identified as the “Hot Dolomite” (top of Middle Bakken to the (BGRM) base of gamma marker) set to a thickness of 14 feet.

The second interval (not always present) is interpreted as a cleaner “shoal” deposit (below the base of the gamma ray maker and above the third sequence) with varying thickness.

The third sequence is identified as the “Mottled Dolomite” (base of gamma ray marker to top of the Lower Bakken Shale) set to a thickness of 28 feet.

Active rigs:

	12/21/2018	12/21/2017	12/21/2016	12/21/2015	12/21/2014
Active Rigs	69	52	42	65	182

RNB Energy: part 3, Mexico's plan to revive their crude oil refining sector. Archived.

While U.S. refineries are again running hot and heavy after the end of this year’s seasonal fall maintenance period, Mexico’s refineries have continued to struggle to operate at more than 30% of their capacity, a decline that is exacerbated by that country’s tumbling oil production.

In recent years, Mexico’s dismal refinery utilization rate has been a boon for U.S. refiners on the Gulf Coast who can ship, pipe or truck gasoline to America’s southern neighbor in short order. Now, Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), is pushing to solve Mexico’s refinery problems by building a new one. Today, we discuss Mexico’s growing dependence on U.S. gasoline, and whether building a new refinery south of the border will change things.

Mexican crude production has fallen sharply in the past 10 years. At 1.76 MMb/d in October 2018, total output is less than half what it was in 2005. 

It’s worth noting here that the majority of that crude — nearly 61% of the 1.76 MMb/d total in October — is categorized as “heavy” or low in API gravity, according to Mexico’s state-run oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). 

Much like Pemex’s oil production rates, refining rates have collapsed, too. And to make matters even worse, Mexico’s refineries are relatively simple — that is, not complex — and configured to process lighter, sweeter crudes, the exact quality that’s getting harder and harder to come by in Mexico. AMLO has a plan to revive oil output alongside refinery rates — he presented a national oil production plan in Campeche last week, in which he pledged to boost production to 2.4 MMb/d in the next six years.